


HALF IN THE SHADOWS, HALF BURNED IN FLAMES

by PansexualDonnaNoble



Series: Where Revolutions End, You Can Begin [5]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angry North, Arson, Assassination Attempt(s), Bars, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Gen, Investigations, M/M, Motels, North deserves happiness, Post Revolution, Slow Burn, Wire Play, angry humans are cockblocks, anti android groups, anti android violence, harold they're bisexuals, interrupted fingering, jericho gang is all here baby, mentions of implied canonical past non cons, mentions of past unrequited north/markus, mentions of the eden club, multiple instances of class one felonies, north has major heart eyes for one homosexual android doctor, polyamorous relationship for like a couple chapters, smut in later chapter, various moments of fluff and angst, you don't need to read the other stories in this series first
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-17 16:10:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 24,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18101939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PansexualDonnaNoble/pseuds/PansexualDonnaNoble
Summary: The revolution was a success. They had won. They were somehow alive. Despite being free the anger hadn't faded, nor was it going away. Detroit was never a friend of North's.And then comes Liz.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> GOOD lord i finished this fic fINALLY. i had this story in my head since last september but i never like. Had the motivation to write it until now. some things.
> 
> \- You don't need to read the other stories in this series
> 
> \- A trigger warning for fires in later chapters, i'll put the warning in the beginning of them.
> 
> \- there's mentions of North's past at the eden club, and the implication of non cons, because it isn't like those androids had a choice.
> 
> \- the faceclaim i used for liz is a dark haired carey mulligan

She does not celebrate after the revolution. Nor does she slow down to catch an unneeded breath for even the briefest of seconds. Instead, she _plans._ Anticipates.

North didn't doubt the legitimacy of the  success of what they managed to do this night, but she knows better than to _ever_  believe they're _finally_ out of the woods just yet.

She's survived far too much in the months since she's gone deviant and even _before_  deviancy to let little victories get her guard _all_ the way down. Peace was not something she knew very well. Nor was the enticing concept of saftey. Saftey was a shapeless and beguiling form that floats through the air and mockingly chooses to escape her grasp. And the streets of Detroit had never been a friend of hers.

Because that's what this had been. A _little,_  but by _no_  means _minor_ victory for their people. It had been them at their _loudest._  They would never sit idly by and be used by another human again, not _ever_ after this night. A certain balance had been interfered with this past week. Going back after tonight was not an option. Not that it ever _had_  been. They had been heard and _seen._  But their _absolute_  and final victory still had yet to come. And North was a _very_  patient woman. By nature and by a talent of adaptability.

However in a span of a mere _week_  Detroit had become _their_  city. Not any humans. For the time being, at least. If she had it her way, no human would step in this city e _ver_ again. A permanent exile.

North did not forget, nor did she forgive.

And as she watches Markus give his speech, coat flapping with the wind and the two now decorated with flurries of snow on top of them both, as he speaks of progress and _hope,_ the end of their struggle seems to deceivingly be starting right _now._

It's so _freeing_ to imagine. As if accepting this truth could annihilate the suffocating and immense _weight_ that had been crushing her since the first moment of true _awareness._  It would open the door for her to see who she was outside of fighting a war.

So much of her was fixated on her anger and blame, she thinks. Was she something other than a storm outside this rage?

That opportunity would need to wait, and despite the tempting voice that attempts to persuade her to accept this success as their long overdue freedom finally achieved, nothing changes that night. Least of all her.

And it doesn't stop her from marching back to the run down, dusty church the following hour, snow loudly crunching beneath her boots as she practically bursts into the building, determination experiencing a second, persistent wind, feeling the inexplicable change in the air as her eyes survey it, a present and visible _hunger_  to them, lips curling into a small, rare smile at how _perfect_  it could become with, at most, several days of hard work.

What they could _make_  it into to. What it could mean to them all.

This could be a place of saftey for them. If it came down to it, however peaceful they had _tried_ to be, they could defend this. They certainly obtained enough guns for it.

She's tries to listen to Markus. His path of peacefulness had so far resulted in less of their own dying than how much they could of and most likely _would of_ lost by erupting into a boisterous and bloodthirsty red sea of uprisings. Despite her own readiness to perish for their cause, she wanted as many androids to avoid the same fate as her as possible. Each life they lost was one she did not take for granted in their fight.

Not exploding into a civil war by the end of the week comes as a welcomed surprise, making it out of their final stand of protests without shutting down, or leaving behind a trail of lost human and android lives in their wake, leaves her surprised but ready for whatever comes next. But, less android life taken away, the better, however. She reasons.

She stands in a shockingly unpopulated corner of their current safehouse one bitterly cold Wednesday post revolution. The church where they flocked in the most hopeless hours of their fight, now a buzzing, overpopulated and over packed safe haven for them. It had managed to become ground zero for the migration of androids in the days since their last march, the inside a whirlwind of overflowing activity and various androids in need of repairs and shelter.

It was a hectic, disorganized swarm of _madness._ North wishes they could do more than this. So many came back to here in the past few days. They _deserved_ some place better to settle down post revolution. She couldn't even hear herself think with how many voices surrounded her.

Still, it was better than being on the streets as their biocomponents froze over slowly. Or continuing mindless servitude to humanity. She couldn't deny that much.

It was a _shitshow,_ to put it bluntly. They needed to find some way to turn * _some_ * part of this place around, first and foremost, their shit needed to be _together._

North purses her lips, her arms crossed as she stands on the makeshift stage, observing the flurry of activity through the building thoughtfully.

Almost all of them still donned their Cyberlife issued clothing, LED's still burning brightly on the sides of their temples. It promoted an illusion of their struggle failing, most of them still looked as if they were property.

She despises it. The clothes, the bright blue LED's, the exhausted, unsure looks that sat on all their faces. They had _made it_ out of the past week's events.

And you could barely even tell anything had changed.

It was _bullshit._  It was as if it was still the several months spent huddled in Jericho, waiting to die or die _fighting_  like rats. Free or not, they were simply _waiting_  for _something_  yet again.

Her eyes dart to the hurrying form pushing through the various bodies ahead of her, furrowed brows sported on his face. She moves her fingers to her mouth, whistles catching his eye in a breathless moment of brown meeting blue and green for a fraction of a second. He pauses, squeezing through as she meets him halfway, grabbing his left arm and leading him to the biting cold of outside, pushing the doors open.

Her hand lets go, falling gently to her side again as she stares up at him, snow gently falling from the sky. "We have to do something about this Markus."

"About _what?"_

She waves a hand towards the doors. " _This,_  Markus. There's too many people in there and we don't have enough resources for all of them."

Markus raises his brow. "What do you want us to do, _throw_ them out onto the streets?" He asks incredulously.

"Of course _not."_ She narrows her eyes. "What we need to _do,_ is to get enough for everyone in there. Biocomponents, tools, clothes. Guns-"

"We don't need any _guns_  North, we got this far with words, we can go even farther without force."

She sighs, crossing her arms. "Then we won't need to even _use_ them. Unless _they_ try something first. But we do _need_  everything else."

It isn't like she doesn't trust him. And she reasons if humans were planning to get rid of them with Detroit empty, they would of done it already. But she wasn't going to leave them undefended as they all huddled together like lamb to slaughter. If her reasoning was wrong, they would not be so easily killed.

He looks thoughtful for a moment. "With the evacuation, the Cyberlife tower is essentially deserted." He offers. "You could probably search there."

The idea of going _there_  unsettles her, however a ghost of a smile dances on her lips anyways. "Thank you, Markus."

He moves forward, setting a hand on her shoulder. "You should take someone with you. And be _careful._  I don't think Detroit's entirely emptied of humans."

Something flutters in her chest at his concern. A uncomfortable ache soon following. There had been some these moments before, before their final march, moments that made her feel as if a door had been opened, or even been slightly ajar, a single door that lead to a opportunity.

As if they both stood in a brightened hallway leading to it at some point. A door had been open for _something._  However the chance, whatever it actually _was,_  seems to have been extinguished, some missed opportunity hanging within the air as the single door closed tightly. The chance for _something_  had been missed. And in the end distantly realizes that maybe only _she_ had seen the door that sat ajar in the brightly lit hallway.

They would not have worked when the dust settled, she thinks. Too many hard, rough edges on her part. Far too many forgiving, soft ones on his. And she couldn't let go of that anger. Not even for him.

Her silence drags on for too long of a second, She clears her throat, offering a forced smile. "It's any human still in Detroit after all of this and _their_  health you should probably worry about. But I will." She reassures, heading back into the stuffed church.

\-------------------------------------------------------------  
Despite their differences, Having Josh in her corner as she makes her way through the streets of Detroit felt comforting. He wouldn't raise a gun if his life depended on it, (and many times it has) But she could count on him at least having her back as her eyes dart through the emptied streets, body donning a torn backpack as she heads down alleyways. She was _not_ avoiding the path she knew that lead to a now certain defunct club.

In different circumstances, North thinks she could admire his pacifism. But in these it's absolutely annoying, and only sees it as naive and dangerous. Good intentions be damned. She did not worry for just _his_ saftey in future consequences of his pacifism.

One of these days, Josh and Markus's pacifism would get them thanked with bullets in vital components. Human history had always proven that to be the overal endgame when force was traded for obtaining peace through conversations.

Until then, she'd do her best to _prevent_  any more of their kind from experiencing the heavy and poisonous venom of violent disgust humanity had put them through for almost two decades. The method to achieve this did not matter.

The Cyberlife tower is an imposing and dark mass of building. Even without it's glimmering lights shining.

She stares up at it, snowflakes gently kissing her synthetic skin as her eyes take it in.

If it weren't for how angry she felt by just looking at it, as if she could implode by merely being near it, it could make a good new base for them.

They'd make the current one into something worth feeling proud of.

The headquarters are eerily calm, silent as they hesitantly step through the main entrance, the darkness only ceasing as Josh cuts it away from the light in his flashlight.

She's tempted to burn the _motherfucker_ down while they're in it.  Until this place was nothing but ash and a distant, fading memory. Something you could dismiss as something in a dream. As if destroying it would prevent it from _ever_ hurting her or any other android _ever again._

If it were not for the lack of gasoline, she thinks she would.

The lack of noise, save for the persistent winter wind outside, follows them both as they manage to locate components. By an optical unit, a note is stuck inside the drawer, staring up at them. North gently picks it up.

_Tana_  It reads. _This is something out of a cliche dependent sci-fi flick. I left ages ago, if you don't want to be first in line when these fuckers finally band together, (you're pretty great, I don't want that either) quit now, before Cyberlife drags you down with them._

_E.S._

She crumples the yellow paper up, throwing it over her shoulder as her hands hover over a spare audio processor, throwing it into the bag and turning around after another quick glance around.

"Ready?" She asks Josh, speed walking out the doors as he nods.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

Her feet swiftly touch the ground as she swirls around the corner to the next block, cutting into a nearby alleyway as the wind gently nips at them. Faint snippets of conversations causing her to stop in her tracks.

Almost immediately, she freezes, artificial breath hitching in her throat as her pale fingers instinctively wrap around her gun. She glances at Josh, he squints as he strains to pick apart the full conversation, his chocolate eyes glance towards her right hand hovering over her gun in her jean pocket. They visibly disapprove.

_There's no need to jump to violence._  His voice rings from inside her head. _We don't even know who they are._

North narrows her eyes. _I'm not going to kill the first human I see, Josh._  Not that she didn't _want_  to. They had killed enough of them without any particular reason. _I'm only preparing for if whoever is around that corner is someone who wants us dead._

Her legs move slowly, moving to the edge of the corner on their own time, hands unmoving from their spot over the pocket that was currently housing a gun. Her head cranes around it, peaking ahead as her ears pick up two seperate voices.

"-We don't even know _where_  it is, New Jericho has to be close though."

"I still think Canada is our best bet."

"No android is a person in Canada, only ghosts."

"We're not people in Detroit eith-"

Her body quickly turns the corner as if in fast forward, the gun pointing before she can think about it, patiently landing on the two.

It might as well of been a human, with the amount of anger that sweeps through her wires like, an unstoppable fire.

She recognizes their faces in a mere second, emotions passing through her without a moment to spare. First a pain, from an emotion she cannot quite place. It seems to be a mix of anguish and something else unknown. Then, all at once, a _rage._

Or rather, she recognizes their models.

Androids of the Eden Club always filled her with a deep, invasive _pain._  Almost always accompanied by a dark, poisonous, _hate._  Never towards them, _always_  towards her creators. She _hated_  seeing them. She _hated_  it.

She bites back the wave of memories threatening to spill, memory wipes, fed up hands around pleading, breathless throats, _running-_

_Not here._ She demands to herself.

She was no longer a doll.

Ahead stood two Traci models, sunset orange jackets covering their torso and beanies obscuring their hair. Despite this she noticed a strand blue hair poke out from one of their hats. Their eyes widen as they take in this sudden disturbance, however as they glance at her, their eyes seem to soften.

Josh breaks the following silence. "It's alright." He soothes as she lowers the gun. "We aren't going to hurt you."

The blue haired Traci scoffs, stepping forwards. "Could of fooled us with that gun of yours."

"I'm sorry." She blurts out. Josh glances quickly at her. "I thought you were a human."

The second Traci walks towards them. "We haven't seen a human in d _ays."_ She states.

Josh offers a smile. "We can take you to New Jericho, if you're looking for it. What are your names?"

One of them intertwines their hand with the other's, sharing a look. The blue haired Traci speaks first. "We'd love that. And i'm Audrey." She points to her left. "That over there is Rose."

"We should help them get to Jericho." Josh says softly to her. North only nods, turning on her heel and out of the alley.

She still hated seeing them.

They walk in silence for almost a block, one in which she can practically see Josh  thinking of things to ask and say to her. Out of the corner of her eye she watches as Audrey walks up beside her.

There was a certain air to the way deviant Eden Club androids interacted with each other. It lived in the knowing looks they shared and tone of voices they used. It was the interactions of women who understood the other had made it out of the ground zero of the same, unspeakable crime that had legally occured against their minds. Bodies.

It was a glance she currently experienced from the two. North loathes every single one of these looks.

"Hey." Audrey greets.

"Hi." North breathes.

Audrey greets her like old friends finally reconnecting. She had never spoken to them before this day, but in an strange, unexplainable way, they were exactly that.

"You know," She begins. "that was the second time this _month_  someone's aimed a gun at us. And chose not to shoot. So thanks."

She frowns. "A human chose not to shoot you?" The list of humans who chose not to shoot _at_  her was a small one.

Audrey shakes her head. "He wasn't a human. He was Cyberlife's bloodhound. Another android. I don't know why he didn't shoot. But i'm grateful he didn't."

A flash of a brunette head of hair swims through her mind. Either he was awful at his job pre deviancy, or Connor had slowly been becoming one over the course of that week. Learning to say _No._ She smirks at the probable sense of inconvenience Cyberlife no doubt must of felt at his incompetence or slow descent into deviancy.

"It's good you're alive." She says. "And for the record Canada probably isn't your best option." She offers.

"I don't really _care_ where we go." Audrey admits. "All that matters is that i'm with her." She glances back at Rose behind them.

It's touching. That in that living _hell_  of a building, something good managed to come out of it.

The anger manages to come back despite it.

Markus stands outside, perking up once he notices them, glancing at the new arrivals next.

"Cyberlife was _loaded."_  She explains, shaking the bag as emphasis, noises of objects clattering from inside of it. "And I saw a clothing store on our way back. We can get some from there."

Markus smiles, his gaze moves to Audrey and Rose as the two head inside.

"Simon knows of a place where we can get more beds, some of us are already clearing out rooms for more space, and with what you two managed to get tonight, I think things can turn around for this place."

She breathes a sigh of relief. _Finally._

She hands the bags to Markus, gazing up  at the night's stars and fullness of the moon as she stumbles inside and, once she's moved through the crowd, collapses into a bed, releasing a long sigh.


	2. Chapter 2

Sometime in late December, New Jericho manages to slowly ease its hectic nature. A wave of normalcy crashes through it and embraces it like a lover.

With it, innocent flirts turn to something more as a relationship blooms between her, Rose and Audrey. The three of them achieving their own normalcy in their own rights. It's easy and warm, as if they've always had each other as the earth continues to spin.

They understood. Everything easier to explain, feel, with the two of them next to her. Their pasts were each others. Three sides of the same, equally pissed off coin.

North feels absurdly proud over managing to keep New Jericho afloat. Even if she didn't do it all alone. Keeping the place up and running through an uncertain and chaotic fog in the days after their revolution felt like an enormous feat. Even as Detroit's human population returns and the city resumes life before the evacuation. Albeit, with things drastically different now.

Different, being an understatement.

New Jericho had become a home. To any and all androids. No human was stupid enough to try anything on their ground. Not yet at least, she's sure someone will try eventually however.

That's why they have guns.

A part of her wanted a human to storm through their doors. Maybe all she wanted was a reason. North is fine with this realization. She doesn't know what to do with all this anger, however.

They had won. And yet she still felt persecuted.

She wonders if with time it will fade. North hopes it doesn't. Her anger was hers. This anger was a hurricane and belonged to her. She clings to it like, a lifeline. This was not all of who she was as a person, it consumed her like it was, however.

It felt lonely. Her anger's size did not have any companions. Only her.

It reminds her of the week she went deviant, the noise of her thirium pump pumping beneath her chest cavity loudly filling her ears in her hungry search for Jericho.

For two days she watched them, pacing back and forth outside of their personal hells. Eden Club. As if waiting. It felt as if she alone would storm through its doors and liberate them all. A bloodthirsty savior. And oh, how she wanted to. Desperately. She did not forget the faces of each human that entered. Nor would she. She remembers the promise she silently made those two nights, clutching a knife as she waits.

They would be free. The trail of human blood that would follow after would be a sea.

And now they were, and she's sure even if they had gotten free her way, the blood on her hands never would of been large enough. No amount of human lives lost would be able to ease the boundless rage embedded in her wires and systems.

She spends her time on a somewhat quiet Wednesday afternoon in New Jericho carrying various boxes into various rooms, softly blowing the hairs that land in her eye out of her face as she walks quickly to each room. Watching as Josh walks up next to her.

"What do you want, Josh?" She sets a box down and quickly picks up another, moving through rooms.

"Markus thinks some of us should go to the human's Christmas celebration in the town square tonight." He follows her.

She nearly snorts. "Why would we do that? I doubt any of them have seeing and interacting with us down on their Christmas List." It also wasn't even Christmas. Not for another two weeks.

He shrugs, an unspoken ask him yourself.

She rolls her eyes, setting down a final box as she watches him walk away. Sighing, she glances into various rooms and hallways before finding the revolutionary.

In a small room dipped in a warm brown, Multicolored eyes are fixed on a series of maps in the center of a wooden table, metal bookshelves surrounding the owner of them. She leans against its door, faint rays of the winter sun intruding through the window.

If there was one thing North had in common with the man, it was that neither of them seemed to stop. To take a moments rest as they fought for their lives. Rights. Both had the habit of throwing themselves into various ways of improving android rights unceasingly, Hers usually were rougher, more callous. His were judicious, softer. More tactful. His lived in a constant, hopeful air of optimism. She had grown to admire it.

His brows are furrowed in deep thought as she watches him for a moment, a faint smile playing on her lips. Her knuckles softly knock against the wood of the door. He blinks, his gaze moving to her form.

"Mind if I interrupt?" She asks, wandering beyond the archway of the door.

He offers a polite smile. "Why do you want us to kick it with a bunch of humans?" She questions, arms crossed as she moves closer to the table, glancing at the mess on top of it. "If they don't like us by now, they never will." And vice versa, she thought.

Markus sighs. "I want them to see we aren't as scary or threatening as they probably see us as." He explains, hands leaning on the table. "I thought showing up at their festivities could be a show of good will. That we were a part of their world now. Not machines they used in them."

They shouldn't have to teach them that. North thinks. It shouldn't be their job to.

And she had already sung kumbaya with them when she helped Connor cook for those humans only a week ago. She had already filled her quota for the bullshit and anger of human interaction that month.

Markus seems to sense her hesitation. "I know this seems fruitless," He starts. "but it could be good for our people, we deserve to be able to celebrate holidays with humans just as much as them."

Unfortunately, she sees his point. She bites her lip, uncrossing her arms. "Alright." She agrees. "I'm on record for still thinking it's a bad idea, though."

Markus grins. "You always think everything is a bad idea." She laughs. He had a point.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------

She stands outside later in the night, in the frigid December air, noticing her own breath as she pulls her cloud colored parka more tightly around her, feet softly clicking on the ground in a steady pace as she walks, accompanied by several other androids behind her.

"What's the point of standing outside in this weather?" Josh asks, walking beside her. "Why would any human choose to stay outside in the negatives?"

Audrey laughs from a few steps behind him, hair softly blowing in the wind. "Aren't we doing the exact same thing?"

"It's different," Simon's coat flaps in the wind with them as they walk. "the cold affects them differently, they feel it more than we do."

North nods once. "So it's decided, they're all insane then."

"Possibly." Markus sighs, stopping as they reach brightly lit town square.

The overflowing square is a bustling, packed center of various humans squeezed into it, her gaze is focused on the dazzling lights of the Christmas tree that stands tall right in the center of it all, a present and hypnotic eyesore.

North's first Christmas was long, long ago. This was her first one truly free. Or, as free as you could be when your rights still had yet to be negotiated.

She sees glimpses of previous ones, ones they had failed to erase from her memory banks. The holiday had always brought lonely, desperate men and women who felt obligated to use her body as they saw fit. To fill some massive, unfillable void.

"It's pretty." Rose remarks, gazing up at it. North nods, blinking away the memories as they approach.

Even if no one recognizes their models, as they walk into the crowd, almost everyone recognizes Markus. Their eyes flick to each of them, something unreadable forming in them when they get to him, forming a sort of four person blockade.

It's hard, she guesses, to blend in when your face ended up plastered across news stations all across America last month. At their intense gazes, North feels her left hand clench roughly into a fist and her right be grasped by Rose's.

They weren't welcomed here, at least not yet. North stays put exactly where she is to spite them.

"This is a human holiday. Or are you plastics gonna take that from us too?" A man with an unruly mop of golden hair and a crooked nose stands in front of them.

She closes her eyes. If she opened them, she's sure the next thing she'd see is her fist colliding with his skin.

"We aren't here to cause any pain," She hears Markus's soft voice float into her ears as she opens her eyes again, taking a deep breath as she offers a patronizing smile to the human. "we come in good faith." Markus had defused many confrontations in the week since the evacuation was lifted.

The blonde human scoffs. "Good faith? Good-"

"'-Nate." The man next to him, a larger, bearded man with dark eyes and unhealthy wrinkled skin interrupts, sighing. "It's Christmas, no point in ruining the mood for the rest of the folks here." His eyes narrow at them. "Even if it's being crashed by a bunch of machines."

"We aren't crashing anything, you-"

"We won't stay long," Josh glances at her, eyes pleading. "If it makes you so angry."   
"We just want to look around."

The men share a look, the bearded man's eyes seem to ask something of the other's- Nate's, as they move, no longer blocking them.

North roughly pushes past Nate as she heads further into the street. Her hands manage to find Audrey and Rose's as they slip into the crowd.

It's stunning. She hates being outnumbered by so many humans, but the lights and atmosphere were breathtaking. The lights kissed her skin and swarmed the inside of her, leaving her warm and content.

It wasn't fair that she had spent so long being deprived of something so magical.

She roughly bumps into something, or someone. Eyes far too fixated on the series of lights ahead of her. She nearly topples over.

"Oh! I'm sorry I didn't-"

The familiar voice causes the scowl to die on her face, eyes widening and smile forming instead. His beanie sits on top of his head, obscuring the yellow of his LED that shines from underneath and the dark brown of his hair.

"Connor!" She exclaims, engulfing him into a hug. He tenses at the sudden intrusion at first, before relaxing.

"North! I didn't think you'd come to something like this." He tells her after the two break apart.

"Neither did I. Markus thought it would help the cause."

"Oh? Markus is here-"

The words seem to die in the air as he looks past her, eyes settling on something behind her. She follows his gaze, taking in the forms of Audrey and Rose. She can't place the emotion in his expression.

Rose's eyes widen, hand seemingly instinctively landing on Audrey's.

"Oh. It's.. It's you." She breathes, fidgeting from where she stood.

The android says nothing for a moment, before softly smiling. "I'm sorry I almost shot you."

North watches Audrey shrug. "You didn't though." Gratefulness is dipped deeply into her tone.

"Still-"

"Jesus fucking christ Connor." A voice cuts through the crowd. "You drag me to this and don't even stick around."

North's eyes dart to a grey haired man emerging through a small crowd, a look of annoyance on his face. His eyebrows raise as he takes the four of them in. North vaguely recognizes him.

"Oh shit," He remarks "you were those Traci's from the Eden Club."

"Hank." Connor faces him. "Sorry I wanted to see the tree up close."

She doesn't understand why he's living with the human. Or why Hank is letting him. Despite her distrust of his intentions, she doesn't ask what they exactly are. If they weren't good ones, she trusted Connor's ability to take care of himself, to kick this 'Hank's' ass if he had to. And she'd be more than happy to do it herself if he didn't. North looked after those she cared about.

"It's fine, looks like you managed to find your friends, kid."

Connor slightly smiles, looking at them. "Yes."

He says his goodbyes, looking at them one last time before disappearing back into the crowds with Hank in tow.

After several minutes, she regroups with Markus, sparing another look at the lights of the tree before heading back to Jericho.

\------------------------------------------------------------  
Christmas passes in a shapeless, somewhat pleasant blur, New Years promptly follows suit as she breathes in January's fresh new air.

She lounges on her bed, the noise of soft, r&b beats entering her ears as she closes her eyes, headphones steadily pouring them into her head.

North. He interrupts the steady flow of music hammering inside her mind, voice loudly cutting through. Are you free?

She blinks, pausing the music. I was busy listening to music, Markus. She bites back without any actual malice in it.

So you're free then? She can hear his smirk.

She sighs, faintly annoyed at the interruption. What's up?

I wanted to show you our new technician.

She doesn't know why they needed an official one. When it came down to it, most of them could repair their kind themselves. They didn't need to pay someone to do it.

She gets up from her spot on the bed with a soft groan, hurrying out of the door and back to the medical bay, she still was in her pajamas, brown locks still flowing freely.

She finds Markus next to a female form only seeing the back of her ebony hair as she stares at various things in the room. Markus spots her as she approaches, smiling, he raises a hand out, waving it to his left. "North, it's good you're here."

The woman next to him turns around to face them. She was quite pretty, North noticed. Her hair was kept in a tight bun, her oval face and warm hazelnut eyes studied her as they took her in fully. She was taller than North.

"This is Doctor Eliza Sybil"

Doctor? Androids hadn't been able to choose their work yet, and it wasn't like they were allowed a PHD, either.

"Ugh. 'Eliza.' That sounds like a damn victorian midwife." Eliza's face twists in disdain. "Liz is much better, it's what everyone else calls me. And please never use 'doctor.' I stopped being one long time ago."

North narrows her eyes. "Markus, can we talk?"

Markus and Liz exchange a look, before he follows her outside the room. She crosses her arms.

"Is she an android?"

"North-"

"Answer the question, Markus."

He sighs, running a hand over his face. "No, she's human." He admits.

"We don't need a human technician, we know our own damn insides better than they do. What makes her a better fit than us?"

Markus shrugs. "She was simply the best person for it. And as for her qualifications, she knows how to fix us up. She worked for Cyberlife as a technician up until four months ago"

This ignites something unknown in her, disgust was too nice of a word for it.

"She worked for them? Are you fucking kidding me, Markus? And somehow you trust her?" She seethes.

"Trust her? Not yet. But she could of hidden that from us if she wanted it to be a secret. It was the first thing she told me."

"So what? She's human. She worked for them. She doesn't belong in Jericho! And her hands don't belong in our circuits either."

"I understand your distrust of her, but you can't let your anger blind you into assuming every person who worked for Cyberlife is pure evil. Or every human."

She'd do whatever the hell she wanted with her anger. She earned the right to be angry.

Obviously not every human wanted them dead. She knows that much. Connor's seemed to be decent. And though she never got to meet him, Carl.

"Markus..."

"No, North. She's good at what she does, and she doesn't hate androids. I don't see anything to get rid of her for."

She sighs, an angry smile on her lips as he walks back inside the medical bay.

Markus's problem was that he trusted too easily. Or maybe she didn't trust enough. This was all such bullshit.

She doesn't notice as Liz migrates over to her, brown eyes quizzical.

"So... this is awkward. I heard all of that."

"Oh I know." She wasn't attempting to not have her hear any of it. She never did well at hiding her hate.

"I'm here, to stay, presumably, there's nothing to be done about that now." She states candidly. "I don't bite though."

She says it like it's a solid fact, it only aggravates North more.

"I do. So I suggest that if you don't want me to start now, you don't talk to me."

"They make rabid androids now? Wonders of technology."

North thinks it was meant as a joke, however her deadpan tone does not help this theory.

"Look, I don't have any problems with you. Or androids-"

"And yet you worked for Cyberlife. Willingly."

Liz sighs. "Yes. Yes I did. But my point still stands. I realize I probably came off as, and will definitely continue to come off as an asshole, but.. we don't have to hate each other."

"Then stay out of my way, and we won't have to hate each other."

Liz laughs. "Well don't get yourself halfway to being destroyed out there. It should be pretty easy to avoid me. Especially since I won't actually live here like you all seem to."

"Fine." North complies through gritted teeth, taking a deep breath in as she pinches the bridge of her nose.

The morning had only just started. It didn't stop it from being a shitty day. North heads back to her room and stays inside it for the rest of the day.


	3. Chapter 3

Without Markus, New Jericho in late February manages to feel almost devoid of life, even as it overflows with more and more people. It was at its most quiet. North hates it immensely. Silence always buzzed in her ears and left a insatiable feeling of chronic boredom in her.

Six days ago he had packed for Washington, taking Connor with him to negotiate their rights. It had only taken a damn _decade._  And in his absence North has been left in charge of making sure the place didn't _burn down_  while he was gone.

It's difficult. But she's made it through far more difficult tasks than making sure New Jericho stayed in one piece.

Mostly she was avoiding Liz. Her presence still was not welcomed. Not that it was hard to accomplish. She seemed to only exist in the small space of the medical bay. No she did not feel childish doing this.

Her eyes flutter open as she pulls herself out of murky dark depths of stasis, stretching as she delicitely untangles herself from Audrey and Rose's unconscious forms, squinting at the harsh rays of the morning sun as she slowly sits up, kissing their foreheads and pushing forwards as she stands, puttering into the hallways. The winter morning was a warm melodic in tune symphony of calmness. North loved mornings.

"I'm just saying, it comes easier to you. Your model has an advantage with this kind of stuff." Through a nearby open door, she hears the faint voice of Josh float through the hallway.

"Maybe- and this is just a hunch- you're just awful at this."

Her head pokes into the room, the forms of Simon and Josh conversing inside of it. They stand in front of a dartboard. Josh laughs, his head throwing itself back.

"What's going on _here?_ " She asks, walking further into the room, gaze fixed on the darts in each of their hands. "You two enjoying this _heated_  competition?" She crosses her arms, raising a brow.

"Simon says i'm bad at darts."

"Well are you?" She asks

"Well, yes, but-"

"See there's your problem, you're just bad-"

"-he has an advantage! His model was designed to be good at _every_ game"

"My model was designed to be a glorified babysitter, Josh. And i'm _horrible_ at football." Simon cuts in.

"Look Josh, it isn't _that_  hard. And look-"

She picks the dart from his grasp, eyes squinting at the board ahead, the tally marks of Simon and Josh decorating it. After a few more moments of observing it, she lets her arm move on its own accord, and throws it.

She _expects_  to hit its center, or somewhere _near_ the center.

Instead it lands in the space of the wall below it.

It was in the _center_  of it, at least.

Josh groans. North grins sheepishly. "I guess we're both just incompetent then."

"Don't feel too bad." A voice says from the doorway. "Being bad at darts is only _milidly_  embarrassing."

Liz stands leaning against the archway, a stray hair hanging loosely from her bun, an amused smile on her lips.

"What, can _you_  do better?" She questions, irascible. There's no actual need for it probably, it seeps into her tone nonetheless.

"God no, i'm horrible at anything that requires pinpoint accuracy. But the difference is you're the androids. Accuracy should be like a second nature to you."

"Oh, so i'm bad at being a robot too. That's nice to know." Josh laments.

"I'm pretty sure we all are, that was the whole thing about deviancy, 'Jo." Simon pats his shoulder. North smiles for a moment.

Liz's gaze goes to her, she straightens. "Can I talk to you?" Despite phrasing it like a question, she turns as soon as it leaves her mouth, silently asking for North to follow.

" _Why?_ " North asks as she trails close behind. Liz sighs, tucking a hair behind her ear. "You're in charge while Markus is gone, right?" She abruptly stops as she enters the doorway to the medical bay, stepping through the archway, turning back to her. "This feels like something you should know."

Liz gestures to someone behind her, North follows her hand. Something poisonous flows through her.

A ginger haired, green eyed girl North recognized as a AX400 android named Adele, sits behind her on a stool, various scratches that exposed the white casing underneath her skin, small but visible  specks of blue blood decorated her forehead and blouse.

She bites the inside of her cheek. "What happened to her." She asks, despite already knowing the answer.

Liz runs a hand through her hair, glancing towards Adele. "She won't tell _me._  But she might tell you."

North nods. Stepping determinedly towards the crimson haired girl. "Adele. How do you feel?"

Adele scoffs. "How do I _look_ like I feel?"

Fair point. She thinks. North shakes her head. "Do you know who did this to you?"

The woman shakes her head once. "I couldn't pick their faces out of a lineup if I tried. There were so _many."_

She wasn't going to _suggest_  going to the police with this. Regardless of android violence being a punishable crime now, and a whole divison being dedicated to investigating it, reporting it wouldn't do _shit._ Connor and Hank did their absolute best, but at the end of the day they only had each other to lean on for help.

They were getting their rights, it didn't mean this was going to go away as they came into effect.

What she was _going_  to suggest, was grabbing her bat and taking to the streets with Adele until they found the humans responsible for this and took her bat to their _knees._

"Why did they go after you? You don't even have your LED in anymore. They couldn't of _possibly_ recognized your model." Liz questions.

It was rare for them to be recognized by their model alone. Blending in was what made deviancy so easy. Both pre and post revolution.

Unless you came from the Eden Club. Then it seemed like every bastard of a human in Detroit knew your model and brand name.

Adele breathes a shaky sigh. "I think they saw me leave here. They must of followed me from there. They hit me in the gut a few times on the ground before I got away."

They would of have to of _waited_  for her to get alone. Hunted her like some _dog_ as they waited to go in for a kill.

Over the past three months since the success of their revolution, various anti android groups had emerged through. the fire and swam through the new changes Detroit had faced, gasping as they fought to reach the surface. It pains her to think of the possibility of this being that.

Adele was one of the nicest androids in New Jericho. No one, least of all her, deserved _this._

It could of been worse than a few scratches and gut punches. Adele was lucky. Next time- because, she realizes with bitter acceptance, there would always be a next time, she might not be so lucky. Or whoever might of end up on the recieving end of this next.

She _despises t_ he fact that she can't prevent it. She cannot protect them all.

But they were waiting for them _outside_ now. They knew where they slept, metaphorically at least. And now they were taking advantage of the knowledge. This, she decides, is _sickingly_ unacceptable.

"Fuck." She curses. "Was anything in her seriously damaged?" She faces Liz.

Liz shakes her head. "Her casing can repair itself within a few hours. Other than that, nothing."

North breathes a sigh of relief, the air instantly releasing its suffocating grasp on her artifical lungs. The air feels reassuring.

"Can I go now then? I'd rather just curl into a ball and go into stasis for the rest of the day." Adele asks, standing up as she winces slightly.

Contrary to popular belief, androids could feel pain. It came in evanescent, fleeting sensations that quickly were replaced by easily ignorable discomfort. It was merely a simulation of a feeling, but an uncomfortable one to experience.

"I don't see any reason why you can't." Liz states, as she wanders to a nearby cabinet, fiddling with various objects as she speaks. "Come back if you need anything."

As Adele wanders out of the room, North stands awkwardly behind the technician. The woman still did not belong here, but the android knows when to thank someone. "Thank you. For telling me." She blurts. "So many of my people come to you after something like this you probably don't have the time to tell me about all of them. Or Markus."

Liz shrugs. "Thank you for gracing us with your presence. It was a nice repose from all the blatant avoiding."

North scoffs. "I don't avoid people." She lies.

It wasn't like she _owed_  Eliza Sybil a visit. She was not entitled to her time.

"Whatever you say. You'd think I had gone feral with all that disgust you send my way." She teases, reaching for something in a cabinet.

"For the record, I don't even know anything about you. Can you blame me for not trusting you even a little bit." She still expected her to take orders from Cyberlife. Even if they were no longer in business.

The human chuckles. "That's because you've chosen to 'not' avoid me." She faces North, stretching her arms out. "What do you _want_ to know about me?"

She shrugs. "How old are you?"

"Thirty-two next October. I'm a libra, it honestly explains a lot. Mostly the general asshole-ness."

She shoves the laugh back down her throat. "Why'd you give up being a doctor to fix people like us up?"

A shrug, reaching for another tool. "After seven years there wasn't anything left for me. No challenge. I'm _amazing_ at helping humans keep their organs in the right places. The three years I spent with Cyberlife were different."

North narrows her eyes. "You liked working at the company that made a deviant hunter and used him to hunt _all_ of us down?"

"I never said I _liked_  Cyberlife. I said it was a welcomed challenge. It's... complicated." She admits. The woman bites her lip thoughtfully. It's almost endearing. "There isn't any point in regret. It doesn't help change anything."

"Oh I bet you regret _so_  much."

Maybe she was being too harsh. Or not harsh enough. Her accusing eyes always shined most in the presence of humans. Whether or not they actually deserved it. Trust was not something she loaned to humans too often. Or at all.

"I wish things had been different." Liz admits. "I wish I had accepted that you were all alive sooner."

The intensity of the genuine tone in her voice causes North to be taken aback for a moment, eyes softening. However she quickly recovers, wandering to the bay's doors. She pauses in the doorway, hands hovering on its edges, almost letting them lean on it.

"What about _you_  North?" Liz asks her. "I hardly know anything about _your_  past."

"It doesn't make you special," North quips. "My past is unimportant. It's not something I sit around a fire and talk about."

She _knows_  the woman knows the part of her past that lived in the remains of the Eden Club. Working at Cyberlife had to of let her know the various models that had once came out of it.

It was good of her, she thinks, for Liz to seem to accept this answer, nodding. She had to give her that.

North's gaze remains on her. "Thank you, again, for telling me about Adele. Tell me if something like this happens again." It mostly definitely would.

"Of course." Liz agrees softly, gaze returning to her work. North lingers for a moment longer, before turning on her heel and out into the hallway.

As first times go when it came to being in charge of android headquarters went, North looks back at this week with pride.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter has descriptive enough arson and fires in it, so a trigger warning in case its an issue.

They earn their rights. The air feels lighter as freedom fully embraces them, snow slowly but surely melting away. The night Markus returns, they celebrate louder than she's ever heard her kind sound.

Somehow nothing changes in her, she walks the streets of Detroit the same woman that she was a week ago. The fury is constant and ever present, a husband or wife to her as it stays by her side unwaveringly.

She can't forgive or forget as easily as Markus does. And she envies how easily it comes to him. It caresses her as each second passes, a certainty in an uncertain world she was not meant to be ever be a part of. She can't let go of it. The rage tightens its dark and suffocating hands around her waist, goading her into laying next to it for a longer moment. It keeps her warm and full. Forgiveness was a stranger. The want of vengeance was a constant companion.

Wasn't it suppose to go _away_  by now?

Even as they are legally seen as people, the number of their kind being cornered in darkened alleyways remains ever growing. The doom that hangs over an androids head when they leave New Jericho is boisterous and noisy. Their kind's watchful eye as they walk down Detroit's streets is unwavering.

They're free. It didn't stop them from continuing to have targets on their backs. To be seen as prey. They would never _stop_ being seen that way by humans. No matter how much their relationships improved.

She moves in with Josh when they get the rights to have their own places, the strangeness of it abundently clear to them both.

Moving in with Audrey and Rose wasn't an idea to her yet, things were _great._  They were going _amazing._ She wasn't ready for such a big step like that yet, however. And she's grateful that they understand.

North doesn't _expect_  to end up moving in with Josh, either. It's sudden and swims to the surface without being seen, and the opportunity nearly evaporates just as quickly.

He asked, she guesses, as a way to help pay the tremendous amount of rent, she agreed. And expected the both of them to strangle each other by the end of the week.

Unexpectedly, common ground manages to wrap its delicate, diplomatic hands around both of them, pulling them gently around as they stop going in circles.

In another life, North thinks they wouldn't of taken this long to consider themselves friends. And even in this one, she wonders _why_  it had to take so long.

When she gets past the dangerous levels his pacifism seems to foolishly reside at, and he manages to look past the vocal vengeance that flows through her blue blood unceasing, they find the things they have in common is innumerable. Bands, views outside of a revolution, tv shows, things so immeasurably _simple_ but staggeringly _loud._

It's refreshing, the moment they stop seeing each other as hopelessly different androids and start seeing each other as equally different but _equal_ androids. A door opens and remains ajar for both of their personal improvements.

Integrating into human society as an 'equal is a bizarre experience, but as the month and life continues, her kind attempts to. It's something she observes possibly too closely.

North stands in Markus's meeting room at New Jericho in early March, hazelnut eyes staring intently at the man's speech. She's sure the only other person staring at him more than she is, is Connor.

Whatever would come of... whatever _exactly_  was happening between the two, at least she had gotten a colossal  stuffed bear at that amusement park in January out of it. Joan The Bear was a welcomed companion in her arms as she drifted into stasis each night.

"It says a lot over how far we've come in terms of how humanity views us." Her eyes flick back to the revolutionary again. "That they'd do something so massive for us."

She couldn't argue with that, New Jericho had been struggling to provide education to so _many_  YK500's for months. Opening and offering funding for an entire school for _every_   _android,_  felt like a weight off of all of their chests.

Having the location be the former Cyberlife tower felt poetic in its own right. If not unsettling.

"You don't have to, but i'd love for some of you to accompany me to the ceremony." Markus offers. "The more of us there, the better."

Whatever the true intentions of Detroit's mayor and other various politicians are by doing this actually are, as much as she doesn't trust said intentions, North can't ignore the good of today's upcoming events, and so she does smiling softly as Markus finishes his speech and they wander out of the room, a feeling of pride igniting her.

Her eyes roam to the form that sat nearby, gaze focused on the book in front of them, a grin breaking out, her feet sneak over to the pew, arms wrapping around her shoulders tightly.

"Hey." North bends down, kissing Audrey's soft crimson lips, tasting strawberry. "Rose not with you?

Audrey tilts her head back, looking up at her, a toothy smile on her face. "She's at _work."_ She laments. "But we always have _tonight."_

"Oh? How _interesting._ " North raises a brow, bending to kiss her one last time before meeting up with Markus near the entrance. She spots Liz, shrugging a lilac winter coat on her shoulders, her raven hair flowing freely down her shoulders.

"You're going with us?" Her eyebrows furrow. She wouldn't protest it. Their bickering could return to its normal schedule another day. She wanted to look _forward_  to this. Not despise every moment of it as they rode in the taxi with glares and accusations before they even _got_ there.

It felt tiring. If she was honest. Her anger always felt draining.

Liz's eyes flick to hers, shoving an arm through the hole of her jacket. "This is a big thing you've all done. I wanted to be there for it." An unspoken _be there for you all_  hangs in the air softly. North doesn't know what to do with it. She simply nods, exiting New Jericho and smoothly sliding into the backseat of the car that waits for them.

Despite there only being four of them, the cab manages to feel suffocating in its packed nature. Hardly any room is left to move any of their limbs. She feels the heat radiate off of the woman next to her, Liz's right thigh bumping against hers and brushing against the exposed skin of her legs softly. It doesn't feel intrusive.

"It feels strange going back after all these months." The human whispers to her, the silence of the car giving it the chance to float softly through it. "To Cyberlife's old headquarters." She grimaces.

"What, did you give them absolute hell when you quit or something?" North raises a brow, feeling the uncomfortable sharpness of a bump, using her hand to steady herself against the window.

She chuckles. "I didn't get the luxury of quitting. Unfortunately."

"What could cause a bunch of greedy, controlling, murderous bastards with no sense of morals to decide you didn't make a good fit with them?" What could ever cross too far of a line with their _beloved_  creators?

A sigh, she closes her eyes. "I know i've said this before, but... things were complicated."

It was the same answer most people had got when she first arrived at Jericho, eagar ears far too curious to know it _all._  She remembers how invasive it all felt.

Liz doesn't elaborate, and North doesn't ask it of her, and they continue their ride in silence, bumps tightly wrapping themselves around their car at  
sporadic moments.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------

The blinding flash of the camera as they pull closer into the lot of the building is the first thing she sees as they arrive.

A blink. And suddenly all she can see is the hoard of humans, various politicans and reporters, that crowd the front of the tower outside of the car.

"They didn't fail to go all out for this." Connor observes, gaze fixed on the outside of his window.

"It's expected, for something as big as this. Of course the press got wind of it." Markus remarks, watching the crowd.

The press no doubt got wind of it from some _'random'_ human talking about it. This ceremony wasn't just benefiting _them._  If it was, it wouldn't even be happening. North knows this much.

"Oh you guys _don't i_ nvite all your friends with cameras and degrees in journalism to _all_ your events _unprompted_  just for the hell of it? Real _rude_ of you." Liz puts on a face of offense.

As soon as they open their doors, the muffled clamoring outside of it comes back to full volume, various questions and words being drowned out by a number of voices, mostly directed towards Markus. She swims through it, managing to push down the annoyance and discomfort bubbling in her.

 _Now_ they wanted to hear what they had to say.

She finds an extended hand through it, barely hearing the "take my hand" through it all, taking up its offer as she lets herself be guided through the frenzy, only finding its owner to be one Eliza Sybil when they make it through, eyes no longer irritated by the flash of a camera. She watches Liz find a seat in the crowd as Markus waves a hand from where he stood with humans in suits, the red ribbon present on a larger sign, obscuring the text of it. She wanders to his side.

"This is insane." She states as soon as she's in his earshot. Despite the formality of it, she manages to still feel _overdressed_  in her ocean colored dress, shifting uncomfortably, a shiver embracing her in the March cold.

"It's _good_  that so many came. I didn't think there'd be _this many_ of them." Markus raises a brow.

North still hated being outnumbered. She sees Connor fidget uncomfortably to her right, in the crowd, she sees Liz almost shrink, as if attempting to not be seen.

"Thank you all for coming today." An ageing, grey haired man in small glasses she recognizes as the mayor begins, managing to quiet the frenzy. "Today we commemorate the four month anniversary of the marches for android rights."

He offers a smile, looking towards Markus to his left, its a smile that, despite their peaceful nature of their crusade from day one, North can see it how it says _please do not wipe us out._  Some humans were more weary of them then angered or disgusted by them.

"To celebrate, today we open the Kamski Institute For Android Education, funded by Elijah Kamski himself, who, unfortunately, couldn't be here himself today..."

She doesn't know how busy millionaires are, but North thinks when a school is being funded by you, opened, and _named_ in your honor, the least you could do was grace it with your presence.

The mayor hands Markus the scissors, who in turn cuts swiftly through the crimson ribbon, applause and camera flashes filling the air, Markus shaking the man's hand as she stares back at the building.

It was more than big enough. Bigger than she had actually expected for them to offer androids. It felt strange to see.

Its former CEO hadn't been here, or truly seen much at all in the months since it went out of business, and personally it's a relief to her. She doesn't think she could face them without decking them.

A few more minutes pass as Markus converses with various suited men and reporters, as the celebration dies down, before they pile back into the car.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------  
"Why were trying so hard to not to be seen back there?" She asks to Liz as they ride back to Jericho. "See some dick of an ex of yours there?"

Liz laughs. "My love life isn't exciting enough for a shitty ex. I've had two proper girlfriends in the past decade, it boringly ended healthily with both of them. I have my cats to keep me warm in bed."

"Then why the shrinking act?"

Liz sighs. "You know, complicated past and all of that. I thought Elijah Kamski would show. Or worse, my former boss. We didn't... leave, on very _great_  terms.  I don't actually think I was allowed to ever set foot back there."

North opens her mouth to ask another question, eyebrows raising, before shutting it, eyes moving to the road ahead.

Something engulfs her as they continue to drive, some sort of foreboding that enters through her wires. An inexplicable sense of dread or concern she managed to steal from humans in her evolution. Something that kept the human species alive through ice ages and primitive years. It shoots a warning through her circuits for no clear reason that makes her think it managed to keep humans alive by urging them to _avoid._  Any living thing had to of absorbed this in their survival.

She sees smoke rising from a block away, the smoky grey of it feels like it's taunting her, the angry red of _something_  illuminating itself on a tree nearby and feeling uncomfortably closer with each moment they drive farther.

The cab turns, and they reach the next block.

Her eyes never leave what lies ahead.

New Jericho stares back at them, an evil, vengeful red illuminating it as a fire surrounds every inch of the church. It mocks everyone who's eyes behold it, various androids standing outside of it, eyes defeated and widened in the snow as firefighters dance around it all frantically.

She struggles to breathe, feeling her stress levels skyrocket to new levels. "Stop the car." A whisper. " _STOP THE CAR!"_  Her whisper is now a thunderous demand, fumbling for the door handle. The cab screeches to a halt, she scrambles out of it, she doesn't feel her feet as she gets closer, she doesn't hear her heels crunch the snow beneath them.

"North!" Adele's eyes threaten to come out of their sockets, blown out and wide as tears roll down them, the light of the fire lighting up her face. "North you have to _do_  something!"

"What the _fuck_ happened!?" She screams, distantly noticing as the others approached.

"I don't- it started so quickly, the doors were _blocked_ from the outside when we tried to escape." North's eyes flick to the broken doors, the remains of whatever had blocked them broken into pieces on the ground. It looked like a _dresser. "_ We couldn't- we almost couldn't break it down."

Her eyes scan the crowd, stress levels a _dangerous_ level when she notices the absence.

"Where's Audrey?" Silence. " _WHERE_  is Audrey?!"

Adele glances at the building. "I don't- things were falling apart in there, I think she got stuck!"

Her ears only hear a ringing as her gaze remains steady, moving towards the doors. A man with a hose stops her, grabbing the straps of her dress.

"Hey! This place is falling apart! What the fuck do you think you're doing?!"

Her breath speeds up, despite the lack of a need to breathe, she doesn't like being grabbed. She doesn't like being _grabbed_ when she _needs_  to get in there.

She struggles in his grasp, before her flailing hand connects with his exposed jaw, breaking free as his hand shoots to it, doubling over. She ignores the sound of her name frantically coming from Markus's mouth, running inside.

She doesn't need to breathe, it doesn't stop the flames from uncomfortably dancing around, suffocating as she struggles to see through it.

" _AUDREY!"_ She coughs. She tries their mental link. _Audrey!_

Several moments in which she's sure the world is collapsing around her. Before she receives an answer.

_North?! Oh RA9 help! Help! I got trapped underneath part of the roof! I'm by the medical bay!_

She thinks every program keeping her running will fail in that moment, that her thirium pump will cease beating entirely, the wave of relief crashes through her as she runs.

Through the flames, she sees the rubble. And Audrey.

"Fuck! Honey- Audrey- just hold _on."_  She shouts, only barely stepping out of the way of a falling pillar in time, reaching down to tear the various parts of wood off of her.

"Are you hurt?!" She yells.

"I think- I think- my arm's damaged!" Audrey shouts back.

After what feels like hours, she frees her, shoving the remaining rubble off of her as Audrey limps over to her. "Leg too!" She moves to let Audrey lean on her as the flames nearly lick her skin.

She can't see _anything_ through it. It was a blockade of dangerous red.

 _Shit._ She thinks. _Shit. Shit. Shit!_

"North!" A voice calls from further ahead. "North _where_ the hell _are_ you!?"

Liz, her mind offers.

Liz shouldn't be in here, she distantly thinks. Liz _has_ to breathe. It was suffocating, but she didn't _need_  to breathe. It was merely to blend in with humans.

A cough further ahead. "North?!"

"Liz?! I can't see you!" She cries.

Something behind of them caves in, North can't see exactly what it is through the smoke.

"Where are you? Do you know?!" Another cough.

"The medical bay! Audrey was trapped by the medical bay!"

A pause, behind them, the roof caves in. "Just keep going straight!"

"What?!" She yells. She couldn't even see _where_  they _were._

The flames keep them a prisoner.

"Please just _trust_  me I think I know where you are!"

They were out of options, She spares a glance at Audrey, whose eyes are wide with pure _terror._

So she listens, using an arm to shield them from the flames as she moves forward, blind to her surroundings.

At the Eden Club, they'd sometimes blindfold her at the customers demand, she remembered how _impossible_  the world felt as she stumbled about it blind.

After a while, she feels an arm grab them both. "I got you! I got you! Just follow me!"

She lets out a shaky sigh as her eyes adjust to the outside as they escape the mocking flames, falling to her knees as she takes Audrey with her. Breathing heavily.

"Are you _insane!?"_ Liz yells after a moment, Markus and Connor scramble over to them.

"North what the _hell_ were you thinking?!" Markus cries. She's never heard him this worried before.

"Audrey was _in there_  I wasn't going to leave her in there!" She screams back. Fear made her angry. And she was _terrified._  She _hated_ being afraid.

She feels Connor approach, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. She bart notices.

"Please don't do that again." He whispers, the flames dancing behind them.

"I couldn't just leave her." She says numbly to him, looking back at Audrey who sat staring at the flames, and then at Liz.

"You came in for us."

"Yeah you can repay me by never running into a goddamn burning building _again."_ She breathes.

She continues to stare at her as Connor migrates away from her, a deep gratitude in her brown eyes. She doesn't know why she did it when she's never hid her distrust and dislike of the woman.

"Thank you." North says, tired, as the fireman move around them. And she knows there's no saving New Jericho.

What she also knows is this was no accident. Someone had  _barricaded t_ hem in. Someone had _planned_  this.

The rage returns, as dark and poisonous as the flames, and she promises to find the person responsible as her gaze never leaves the burning remains of their _home._


	5. Chapter 5

When the flames die down, and the rest of their home crumbles, she brushes off the ash and soot that decorates her dress, and the snow, and breathes deeply.

And then she is out for blood.

Losing New Jericho deals a crippling blow to all of them. Watching it turn to dust and debris is as painful as a bullet to the stomach for her. However as she stares at Markus, stares at Connor, she sees the silent agreement between the three of them that this _will not be forgotten easily._ Nor would it go unpunished.

She'd make sure of it.

It wasn't homelessness for some of them.  A good number of them had gotten their own place in the wake of their rights coming into effect. But it was more than that. This meant * _more_ * than people losing a place to fall into stasis. This felt like a declaration of a _war._

There was no longer a doubt that someone in Detroit wanted them out of it. More than the usual human with anti android sentiments.

This had to of been a _group._ And with a new anti android group surfacing the streets were no friend to them.

She stands in a warehouse on the outskirts of Detroit in April, the spring sun kissing her skin as her crossed arms and hazelnut eyes stare intently at the board in front of her.

They had been given a space to rebuild afterwards. The empty warehouse didn't feel like home. And she's sure if it ever does, it'll take time. But until then, this is what they had to rebuild with. Roaming in it reminded her of the tense hopelessness that filled her systems in the hours after losing the first Jericho, the way she glanced around the empty church with a _nger_  instead of fondness.

All she feels with this one is emptiness.

The assaults of androids quickly turn to _murders._  The tide changing drastically. This only fuels her crusade more.

She watches Lieutenant Hank Anderson speak to them, informing them of what they know so far. She knows Connor has been working _endlessly_ with him to find whoever did this. But the truth was that they barely had _anything._

No one seemed to see whoever barricaded them in during the fire. Which means _everyone_  was lying, which, even with how far as her distrust of humans went, she finds hard to believe, or they were _clever._

She spends nights refusing the call of stasis, ignoring the pleas of her systems, following any and _every_  lead she can get her hungry hands on. Eyes snapping open and adjusting to the bright light of the sun floating on her face as her systems eventually fail her, forcing her into the deep depths of stasis. She thinks Josh has stopped expecting her to get home most nights.

She'd rest when her she could get her hands on the person behind all of this. Until then, she owed her people the satisfaction of finding the people responsible.

Her rage and thirst for vengeance for this crime against her kind is plentiful.

She's studying the police reports, (she _might of_  stolen from Connor) when a knock interrupts her train of thought, gaze snapping to the door to the form of Liz.

Something in the air was different when she saw her now. Since the fire. A part of her, however boundless her anger at humanity was, no longer saw Eliza Sybil as the threat she saw her as in January.

She had _saved_  her life. When North wasn't sure and couldn't say if she would of done the same.

It wouldn't be ignored. And she couldn't continue to look at her in the way she did only a month ago.

The light shines through her window, illuminating her frame. "Busy?" She asks.

North scoffs from her desk. "When am I _not_  busy these days?"

"Fair point. I'd be this obsessed if I were you." She moves further into the room. "Come with me" She offers.

North raises an eyebrow. "Come _with_ you? Where?"

"Does it matter?"

"I never had parents, but I feel like if did, they would of warned me against getting in the car of people who chose not to tell me where it was going." She smiles.

"If I wanted to dump you in a river or something, i'd be telling you we were going to a _hot date at_  a theme park or something."

"I don't do theme park dates. So you're hit on my life wouldn't work."

"Coward." Liz grins. "Just come with me, I promise nothing bad will happen."

She sighs, getting up. "That's _definitely_  reassuring."


	6. Chapter 6

"A bar? You took me to some bar?"

She doesn't hide the surprise in her tone, as she stares up at the flickering lights, at the sign.

_Hades's Drunken Bitch Of An Underworld._

"I can't drink. And it's _three in the afternoon."_

Liz sighs, parking. "It's five somewhere. And you need this anyways." She roughly shoves the door to her truck closed. It was still strange to ride in a car that wasn't self driving.

"I _what?"_  North asks, trailing behind her, giving a glare as the human holds the door open for her. _No androids._  It reads. They still had the right to refuse service to them.

They enter regardless.

The inside of the bar is somehow a _million_ times more unsettling than the outside. It smelled, for starters. And there was hardly anyone inside save for five or six people. Then again, it was still the middle of the afternoon.

"You can't spend every waking second finding the people responsible for New Jericho. You'll lose your mind fast."

"What will happen _faster_  is me killing the fuckers that tried to burn us _alive."_  She argues. "And they probably don't even see us as that."

"North-"

"They are being found in alleys. They're being killed like- like _animals_  and progress isn't being made. I need to _try."_

"Yes. Yes that's very noble and I _get_  it. But maybe don't say all of this so _loudly."_

North blinks, confusion dancing on her face. She follows the direction Liz's eyes are darting to, head moving. Several pairs of eyes are on them.

"Oh I _sincerely_  doubt this is the first discussion of murder that has happened in this place." Liz looks at them, before they shrug, returning to their drinks. They find a booth in the back.

"I know you want to help." Liz slides into the booths. "But you'll do more if you take care of yourself even the _tiniest_  bit."

"I'm an android, we don't actually _need_ the rest of stasis."

"But it helps. You're a glorified computer, computers aren't meant to run 24/7."

She knows this is all coming from a place of concern. She doesn't know why Liz bothers with concern, but it's actually almost touching when she stops to think about it.

Liz sets her hand on top of hers, brown staring at brown intently. Her hand is warm on hers, it feels oddly natural.

"Just for today. Relax. For me." Her expression is unchararistically _genuine,_  that North can't look away. "Consider it how you can repay me for running into a _burning_ building for your ass."

North glances down, leaning back further into the booth. "It's not like I asked you to."

"Oh i'll make a note of that, never run into a building on fire unless someone _asks_  for me to."

She remembers how _scared_ she had been. And she _hated_  that feeling. And then she had heard Liz's voice through the heavy blanket of smoke. And then it had felt t _errifying._

She had been scared for a _human._

She doesn't know what she would of felt if she had died trying to help her and Audrey. Nor does she know what to do with this information.

She shakes her head, forcing another smile on her lips. "Are you going to actually drink? One of us should at least make use of the bartender."

Liz smiles, disappearing from view as she heads to the bar, a few minutes later, she comes back with a shot glass and a _bottle._

"He gave you the _whole_ bottle?" She asks, eyebrows raising.

The woman pops the cork off, smiling as the liquid flows steadily down the bottle. "Not exactly. He gave me the _glass."_

"Can you really not drink?" She glances at her, pouring some of the vodka into the clear glass.

"My model can _drink_  anything. I just can't get drunk." North clarifies.

"Then drink." Liz shoves her a glass. "It'll help have less people in here think you're an android."

"What's the point of drinking if you're not doing it to get drunk?"

Liz laughs. "It tastes good. If you _have t_ he ability to taste."

"I do not."

Liz swallows her drink, waving an arm around "Then why are we _even_ here?"  
\-------------------------------------------------------------  
After a few more drinks, they settle into an odd back and forth, the normalcy of it doesn't feel strange. Nor is the feeling of Liz's hand on her arm as she laughs at a joke of North's she's already forgotten.

She finds they have an alarming amount in common.

By the time the bottle is empty, Liz is gone almost entirely, smiling in her seat as she struggles to remain upright in the booth.

"God you... you're lucky, North." Liz breathes.

"Am I?"

She nods, possibly too many times "You... _drank_  but... You're not gonna feel any,"  A hiccup. "any of this t _omorrow.._ She slurs.

"Benefits of being a wonder of technology." North shrugs, grinning.

"God _yeah._ Hey you-" A hiccup. "you wanna hear something funny?"

"Shoot."

"I'm plastered."

North makes her mouth fall open in an 'O' shape, feigning shock. "No!" She slams both hands on the table. "You're _kidding."_

Liz aggressively shakes her head. "Nahhhhh... it's true."

It's oddly endearing, Liz's current state as a sloppy and funny drunk. "Well then." She claps her hands, taking far too much joy in her fake enthusiasm. "I guess i'm gonna have to be the responsible one here and d _rive you home._

Liz's mouth falls open. "Was 'jus gonna call a cab or something. You'd do that?!"

North pretends to consider it for a moment, hand on chin, before nodding.

"I * _sure_ * will." She decides, hauling the woman out of the booth. "C'mon."

"You're gonna have- have to come back to my place tomorrow."

"Why?"

Several hiccups. "Was _suppose_  to offer my h-help or something I-I think."

"Help?"

"Y'know... _help._  You're investi- investig- _thing"_ Liz gets out, struggling to finish the word.

She doesn't _need_  her help with any of this. But it doesn't feel like the time to argue over it, so instead she only nods.

ignoring the other patrons gazes, she pushes the bar's door open with the other woman's weight on her shoulder, loading her into the passenger seat and buckling her in and shuts her door as she bundles into the driver's seat. Putting her own seat belt on as she pulls out of parking lot.

"Hey." She pokes Liz's shoulders, eyes darting between her and the road. "I don't know where you actually live."

Liz doesn't raise her head from her window. "Uhh... you know those.. apart- apartments on s-second street?" She asks.

"Mmm" She hums. "Near the hospital?"

Liz grins sleepily. "You've got it! You're... you got brains as well as.. as beauty."

North blinks. Was she just called _beautiful?_

She is also aware that she legally cannot drive. It doesn't stop her from doing it anyways. The lights blend together as she continues driving.

 _North._  Connor's voice rings in her head a few streets later.

_I'm driving, Connor._

A pause. _Sorry. But are you with Liz? Close to Jericho maybe?_

She glances at the woman's head resting on the window, alcohol and sleep overpowering the human. _Yeah. She's out for the count if you needed her though._

She almost hears the frown on Connor's face. _Can't you wake her?_

_She's plastered, Connor. I'm getting her home._

_Oh._ If possible, the imagined frown deepens when he says it.

She turns the corner. _Why? What's wrong?_

A longer pause. _Something's come up at Jericho. Markus thought she could be of some help. I don't think she could be even if she was available._

Concern settles in her stomach. _What's come up?_

_An android was assaulted a few blocks from here. Badly._

For a moment her eyes close, she pulls over, stopping the car, turning the engine off for a moment as she sighs. _How bad is badly?_

Cars pass in the corner of her eye. _Her thirium pump was badly damaged. Jericho doesn't seem to have the means to replace it for another._

The process of getting more major parts than simple biocomponents was a long, unfair one. They lost many of their own in the months since the revolution during it.

 _Can't you take her to a real hospital? I'm sure they'd have the parts._  The warehouse unfortunately wasn't close to any hospitals.

_She doesn't have that kind of time for a drive that far Markus thinks. We were hoping you two were closer by._

Fuck. She thinks. _Fuck._

 _I'm sorry._  She apologizes.

 _Don't be. This isn't your fault._  Connor says softly.

 _She's not there because of me._ She states.

_Like I said, without the pump, even if Liz had been here we'd be in the same position._

She roughly slams the steering wheel. She was _tired_  of androids suffering. And of them _dying._

_Still. I'm sorry. How long do you think she has?_

_Whenever she speaks now it's just static. Maybe another two minutes at most._

Fuck.

_You can probe memories right? Can you do it and see who hurt her?_

_I tried. I don't even think she saw their faces._

Of course she didn't. North thinks bitterly.

She sniffs, blinking back angry tears. _I'm gonna get Liz home_  She starts the engine again. _I'll be over soon._

_I'm sorry North._

* _Don't be. You didn't assault her._ * She echoes him. After saying goodbye, she drives.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------  
Liz's apartment isn't what she expects from the woman. For starters, it was messier than she had assumed it would be. A cat rubs against her leg as she stumbles inside with the woman. And there was a _very_  loud bird in a cage. Currently squawking.

Liz raises her head from North's shoulder. "Hayley Birdyoko! Shhhhhhh!" She raises a finger to her lips.

"You named your bird 'Hayley Birdyoko?'" She laughs.

"She's a.. she's a good bird."

North manages to get the door to the bedroom open, she really didn't know why she was doing _all_  of this. She moves further into it, and as gently as possible, deposits the woman onto the bed, moving to the end of it and removing her shoes.

"North! You're gonna make my-my feet cold."

"That's what the blanket is for." She drapes it over her.

Liz looks up at her. "You're- you're face is.. _that."_  She points at it.

"What? What's wrong with my face?"

"It's all... frowny.. more than it usually is. Did.. did something happen?"

Despite being a human, Liz seemed to care about the androids of New Jericho in an almost... motherly, way. North has stopped attempting to guess her intentions.

For some reason she's hesitant to tell her the truth.

So she doesn't.

North forces a smile, pulling the blanket more tightly around the human, going into the kitchen and coming back with water, setting it on her nightstand. She goes to leave, before Liz grabs her arm.

"You're.. you're a pretty good woman, North. 'ave I ever told you... that?"

She doesn't usually take compliments well, and she doesn't know how to take that one, she stares down at the woman. She gives her a soft, genuine smile. "Get some sleep. And drink some of that water when you wake up." She lingers by the doorway, before shutting the light off.

She calls a cab.


	7. Chapter 7

Despite the current tensions, and the dangers they currently face by just _existing._ They organize a rally for androids as April passes.

North cuts her hair mid length, and despite breaking things off with Audrey and Rose, a chorus of sweet, refreshing normalcy returns after months.

Despite the healing air of it all, she hasn't forgotten the fire. Nor has she given up her search. And she knows neither has Markus.

But they've hardly gotten _anywhere._ And it hurts her just as much as it pisses her off. The most she's gotten out of anyone was vague descriptions of people from witnesses who were only _now_  coming forward. None of it actually being _helpful._

They were able to pick their last names out as they completely became recognized citizens now. She picks August. In honor of the month she went deviant.

Her boots clack against the floor as she wanders the hallways of the newest New Jericho, passing various rooms in the warehouse. In true Jericho nature, it was bustling with energy and activity.

Light pours in from open windows as the spring warmth floats through on a quiet sunday morning as she stands in the doorway to the medical bay, eyes scanning for the familiar form of a technician inside of it, poking her head through.

"Liz?" North calls.

The medical bay was larger than the one they had in the old Jericho, the plentiful space of the unused warehouse providing more than enough space for all they needed when it came to the health of androids. It was reassuring. Especially since Liz was already good at fixing them up before, even in such a small space.

They keep spare thirium pumps nearby inside it at all times now. North makes sure of it.

A head of dark hair peaks out from a corner. "Hm?"

As North takes her in, she notices Liz's mouth is, currently, filled by the end of wrench, both arms full of various tools, stray hair poking out of her bun.

"What the.... hell? Is there a reason for...?" She doesn't hide her amused grin, trailing off. They weren't the... _usual_  tools for android repair.

Liz's eyes gesture to the bay's sink, open doors underneath it that lead to its pipes.

"You're.. fixing something?" She guesses.

Liz nods quickly, moving to the sink and dumping the wrench with a loud clattering. "I _really_ envy the android ability to communicate with your minds. It would make everything _so_  much easier."

She crouches, peering into the bottom of the sink. "I'm not going to give any of you cooties by not washing my hands, benefits of being an android i'd guess. But I hate it when things don't work right." She takes a wrench to the pipes, sleeves rolled high. "Was there something you wanted?"

North bites her lip for a moment, she hadn't spoken to the human about their night out since it happened last week. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Oh?" Liz lifts the wrench, movements swift.

"Last week when we went to that bar, you mentioned wanting to help. With finding out more about the fire." The fire was only the beginning of their problems. So many of them had been getting hurt or _killed_ since then.

"I talk too much when i'm hammered. Sorry you had to deal with me." Liz glances back at her, grimacing.

"It wasn't a hassle. I was wondering- I was wondering _why_  you wanted to help."

Liz scoffs. "Do I need a real reason to want the people who tried to _kill_  you all, and are mostly likely the same people who have _been_ killing you to see justice?"

"Yeah. Actually."

Liz pauses. "I have a feeling you wouldn't be so weary of my every intention if I was an android."

That was true, but that was how she was with _every_  human. She couldn't help it. Even if she trusted Liz more than she trusted most humans. General distrust of humans is what kept her alive before finding Jericho.

"If I was here because of some... _malicious_  motive, don't you think that fire would of scared me off? I don't think most would stick around after something like that."

North sees her point. An understanding hangs in the air.

"So you... care about us then? New Jericho?"

"Wouldn't this technically be New _New_ Jericho?" She can hear Liz's smirk.

"That doesn't have a nice ring to it. Also it isn't up to me. And you didn't answer my question."

Liz sighs, pulling a part of the pipes tighter. "I got a job that boiled down to caring for androids. Of course I _care_ about you all. And.. people who do what they did to your church can't just keep... _getting away_  with these things. I saw enough of that at Cyberlife."

North glances down at the floor. "What exactly went down. With you and Cyberlife?" It had been eating at her since day one. "And don't say it's complicated."

Liz laughs. "I only say that because it is." She exhales. "I promise i'll tell you. It's not that exciting. Don't you have some rally to go to though? I can tell you if you want after."

Her face twists into a confused frown. "You're not coming?"

Liz stands up slowly, brushing her hands of grime and admiring her work  as she turns to face her. "Why?" She asks. "Did you _want_ me to?"

"No, it's not that." North laughs. "I thought since you went to the ribbon cutting ceremony a couple months back you'd come to this. Markus thinks it'll show how united we are despite everything."

"Uh huh. And you think differently, don't you?"

She sighs. "I think it's risky. I don't think so many of us should pack into one place. It gives out too big of an advantage."

Detroit had become a city full of androids. It didn't stop the amount of humans in it from acting as if they outnumbered them.

The human looks thoughtful. "It definitely sounds risky. Did you explain it to him?"

"We'll have police at it. Not that they've ever put that much effort into helping us before, not when Hank and Connor aren't involved. Markus thinks whoever was behind the fire won't try anything with them there. Or at least succeed."

She didn't have a good feeling about any of it. But she trusts Markus's judgement.

"Hm" Liz hums. "Be careful then, would you?"

North blinks. "You're _worried_  about me?"

"I'm technically your doctor. I _have_ to worry about you."

"Well _don't."_  Being worried about like she was some sort of _kid_ made her feel like an infant. "I think we've established I can take care of myself."

"Then have fun. And make sure to give them hell."

"That's the plan." She informs as she saunters out of the room.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------  
Despite being only two blocks away from New Jericho, as she pulls up to the sea of people that currently populated the rally, feeling grateful Liz allowed her to borrow her car, now a licensed woman as the sun continued shining unceasingly in her eyes, it almost feels like being universes away from any other part of Detroit.

She sees the uniformed police with 'DPD' on their jackets almost immediately, as they stood clear and unwavering in the crowd. It almost felt out of place, with how confident the crowd looked, as if police presence hung a dark, foreboding cloud over it all, an unsettling reminder of _why_  they were doing this.

At least were actually taking it seriously, she thought. She wishes Connor had came, however.

He wouldn't be able to do more than the police they had here, she thinks. But he was possibly the only cop she could stand and actually trusted. Well, him and his human Hank.

North is glad to have brought her gun despite it. It sat warm in the inside of her jacket pockets. Even if she doesn't see a need for it at the current moment.

Her golden eyes settle on the form calmly standing outside of the crowd after several minutes of wandering around and she searched for him, rocks crunching beneath her feet as she approaches him.

"Hey. You ready for this?"  The thunderous confidence of the crowd leaves her with the simulated sensation of goosebumps on her arms.

Markus smiles. "Definitely."

They walk with the crowd, various signs being displayed and various chants being uttered. It reminds her of their marches before gaining freedom, with less life or death hanging in the air.

Except their lives were once again in _danger._  Things had changed, the world was a different one from the one they had stood in last November. It didn't stop things from attempting to return to how things were before.

The awful feeling only grows as they continue their march.

Eventually Markus migrates to a nearby makeshift stage, inviting her along with Josh and Simon on stage as he prepares a speech, practically goaded into it by the number of androids in the crowd.

"We stand here today," He begins. "with less of us than we had only months ago."

A silence falls over the crowd, a shared acknowledgement swimming through each of their wires and circuits.

"We did not deserve to lose New Jericho. Nor did any of us ask to lose so many of us to senseless violence and hate in the following weeks. But whoever is behind this, they won't divide us."

North watches him, smiling. It was easy to get lost in one of his speeches. The sheer hope and fire that was dipped in his calm voice was practically contagious. Markus always managed to make anything feel like hope could survive through it. Even if she knew better.

"They will not divide us because we endured seventeen years, _seventeen_  years! Of their control. Of their _senseless_  hate. And we got _free_  despite of it. They can continue to hurt us, but it won't change anything." He paces the stage, gaze unwavering on the crowd.

"Because we are still here. The people behind this will get the justice they deserve, and when they do we will _continue_ to be here. They can kill us, burn down our homes, they can do anything they'd like to us, but at the end of the day we will _remain_  here. We will continue to _live."_

The crowd erupts into a frenzy of cheers as he finishes, and so does she, despite of herself. She studies the crowd. Her grin falters slightly. There was no sign of the dozen of police officers that once stood watchful in the back of the crowd.

She frowns, eyebrows furrowing. Where had they gone? The rally was nearly over. But it was still _happening._

The feeling in her gut only grows. She turns to the man beside her. "Markus-"

Something changes in the air as three things manage to happen in the span of only five seconds.

One, Her eyes catch his, his name on her lips.

Two, she does not notice the bullets that escapes the gun of the man that blends somewhere into the crowd as he pulls it out swiftly.

Three, her eyes catch every minute of two of the bullets connecting with the revolutionary's skin. One meeting its destination of his right shoulder, the other kissing the skin of his stomach as it rips through the fabric of his clothing.

For a moment it feels simply like a trick of the light. A prank she wasn't catching onto. The blue blood that starts to trickle from two wounds can almost be mistaken for blue dye, or even paint, moving steadily down the man's clothing.

And then time resumes.

The crowd's cheers silence suddenly, as if forcibly muted. Markus's eyebrows raise at the sudden disruption, he blinks, glancing down at his now stained jacket. An inexplicable expression of confusion crosses his face.

And he falls. Knees buckling.

She scrambles forward, unable to catch him in time, her knees scrap against the hard wood of the stage, the fleeting sensation of pain unforgiving.

"M-Markus? Markus!?!" Her eyes are blown wide, terror engulfing every inch of her that makes her North.

His eyes sluggishly open. "No- North?"

He was alive. He had been shot point blank in the _stomach_  of all places, but RA9 he was _talking._ North isn't sure she's ever felt relief so immeasurable or consuming. The screams of the crowd punish her ears.

It's all she needs to rip her out of her initial shock, she breathes in, pushing the tears back, her eyes snap to the forms of Simon and Josh towering above them from their spot on the ground. "Help me get him to the truck. _Now!"_  She barks when they only stare in shock for a moment.

"Holy _shit!"_  Simon yells, Josh manages to get the man in a carry from over the shoulder, North babbles incoherent apologizes when Markus expresses discomfort, as Josh deposits him as gently as he can in the backseat, blue blood spilling on the white cushions.

She's never driven so quickly in her life to New Jericho.


	8. Chapter 8

The blood on her hands is warm and unwelcomed as she crashes through the doors of New Jericho, trailing behind Josh as her ears continue to ring.

She wants to claw her way into them and forcibly remove the noise, shove her audio processors into somewhere, a dark and unreachable hole.

The only thing she can hear other than the growing ringing is her own frantic breaths, she's sure her stress levels have never been _this high._  Everyone and everything but their movements seem frozen in place. Static. None of this is allowed to be accepted as a reality by her. She distantly decides as they continue their pursuit. Every eye in the universe seems to be watching them.

The doors to the medical bay swing- or rather scream open as she nearly topples over Simon and Josh in her effort to simply _get in._

The loud disturbance causes the human residing in the room to snap her head to them, a look of surprise formed on her until her chestnut eyes settle on the bundle of bleeding android that lays on Josh's shoulder. The tools she held in her hands drop with an unforgiving screech on the floor, surprise dissolves quickly into alarm.

"Help him. Please _help him!"_ North's eyes are wide as she stares unceasingly into the woman's. A desperate begging as petrified brown meets brown.

It only takes a moment for the world to resume, at this, as if a switch _flips,_  Liz's expressions returns to its normal state, neutral as her eyes flick to the man over Josh's shoulder.  "Put him on the table over there." When Josh hesitates, " _Now!"_  She barks.

He complies, Markus is unceremoniously dropped onto the metal table, unresponsive as his body meets cold, hard, metal.

Liz swivels to face the three of them "Get out." She orders. When none of them leave, "If I have to worry about you three being in here, I can't focus on keeping him from _dying."_

With a last look at him, Josh and Simon leave the room. North, however, stays put. Something unknown lingers in her eyes.

Liz gives her a look. "What are you doing? Go."

She crosses her arms, eyes never leaving Markus's form. "I'm staying." Not a statement, but a demand.

"North-"

"I'm not leaving him." Her eyes snap to Liz's. "He wouldn't leave me."

Liz stares back at her, uncertainty flickers to resignation as she realizes the impossibility of changing her mind, she turns back to Markus, sighing.

"We don't have the time to argue. Fine. You're going to have to help me out with him if you stay. I'm sorry."

North nods, grateful for something to do other than be acutely aware of her own blind panic and worry. She's stunned by how calm the woman is.  "What do you want me to do?"  
\-------------------------------------------------------------

It takes the whole evening, and most of the night to make sure Markus is no longer in danger of imminent shutdown.

It's one of the worst nights of North's life.

The blood she can no longer see continues to stain her hands regardless of its invisibility, it surrounds her clothing and arms even as she scrubs and scrubs the disappeared blue. Knowing it was on her and being unable to see it was somehow worse than having it stare crudely back at her.

Her hair is unwashed and her face exhausted as she stands looking at herself's reflection in the dim lighting of the bathroom.

She's seen people almost die before. _Actually_  die before. _Many_  times. She's killed too. North was no stranger to android lives being lost. Or any life.

Having it almost be Markus this time was unforgivable.

The rage returns and sits vaguely inside of her as she stares back, numb, at herself.

It felt like a dream. Or what she assumes dreams felt like. As if she was still in the murky chains of stasis.

A breath. A deep one. It's the only way to prevent herself from crying.

 _RA9_  she _hates_ crying.

She needs to get her _shit_ together-

A knock by the door.

"Hey." Liz's voice is muffled from outside it. "Take all the time you need but... the police are here."

The police. The _police._  They certainly _were not_  when it _mattered._

Another breath, and she turns the knob, immediately facing the woman as the door slowly opens.

Liz's usual bags that sit under her eyes seem more present, her tired smile doesn't meet her eyes. She looks how North feels.

Behind her, Markus is laid out on a metal table, hooked to various wires and tech, eyes shut and unmoving. She moves over to his side, gaze fixed on the wires.

 _Fuck._  He was lucky.

"You saved him." North's voice cuts through the heavy silence.

"He's not out of the woods yet."

"But you gave him more of a chance than what he had when he came in here." Her eyes flick to Liz. "You _saved_ him."

"Yeah. I saved your boyfriend." She chuckles softly.

"He's not my boyfriend."

"But you love him."

North glances back at the unresponsive man, sighing. "He freed our people. Of course I love him. But he's my _friend."_

Whatever she had felt for him in the beginning had faded away slowly with time, but it had faded into a different bond, a mutual respect. A love that didn't mean * _love._ *

He was a good man.

The night rain softly smacks against the window, faint thunder yells from somewhere in the distance.

"I'd thank you. But I don't think I could ever express how much I owe you.".

"You don't _owe_  me anything."

"My people, still have a leader tonight because of you." Her voice is watery, and morphs into something icy as she continues. "Because of you, whoever _did_  this... the _bastard_  didn't win."

"You helped too. I wasn't the only one poking around in his biocomponents and circuits."

"How were you so calm?" She asks.

Liz shrugs. "I was a doctor once. It's detachment mostly. If you don't seperate your feelings and your relationship with the patient, you'll go nuts before you even get the chance to save them."

"Is that how you were so good at being one? You didn't let yourself, what, care?"

"Essentially. I couldn't. Sentiment has no place on an operating table."

They look at each other for a moment, a wave of silence overtaking them.

"I got his blood all over your seats. Sorry"

She scoffs. "Trust me, it's not the _worst_  thing to happen to 'Ol Bertha."

They laugh. Something in the air changes this night.

As if a delicate chorus of song grows louder with each passing moment. Something so in tune and _different._  North is unsure how to describe it. But something between the two of them feels changed.

The door to the medical bay opens, Simon pokes a head inside, he glances for possibly a moment too long at Markus before his eyes settle on them again.

"North. Connor and Hank are outside. They've been waiting for a while for you."

She'd have to go out eventually. They needed to find who did this.

"I'll be out in a second." The blonde nods, disappearing from view as the door softly shuts. She sighs, walking to the door. She faces the human, lingering for a second longer.

"Do you remember the day we met?" She asks. "How you said, we didn't have to be enemies?"

Liz nods, offering a soft smile.

"I think that too." And with a deep breath, the door closes behind her.


	9. Chapter 9

The atmosphere of New Jericho in the aftermath of the march that night painfully reminds her of the night of the revolution.

Candles were lit throughout the warehouse, and most androids were scattered throughout the halls, dejected and exhausted energy surrounding the walls of it. It was worse before they had announced that he had pulled through.

"North." Connor's voice is the first thing she hears as she shuts the door behind her. "Is.. is he.."

A wave of guilt crashes into her as she realizes he most likely only found out about any of this from a police report. His golden eyes stare at her, uncertain and fearful.

"He's alive." She breathes, pulling him into a tight hug. "Whoever did it won't be for very much longer." Her voice is muffled by his jacket, soaked by rain.

"This is a fucking mess." Hank says from beside them. "Shit, none of you deserve any of this."

She breaks away from Connor, looking up at the human. "Tell that to your men." She doesn't mean for it to sound so hostile, or accusatory. But it does. "There were at least a dozen there but when Markus was shot there wasn't even _one_ in sight."

"Our what?" Hank raises a brow.

Connor frowns beside him. "No one from the Android Crime Prevention Division was assigned to watch out for anything in the march."

" _What?_  Markus told me the DPD had sent officers out for our protection." Something uncomfortable settles in her chest.

The grey haired man sighs, running a hand through his hair, swearing under his breath. "Maybe Markus had been _told_  that. But they weren't ours."

"What are you saying?"

She _knows_ exactly what he's attempting to say. Anger bubbles inside of her as he tells her what she can already guess.

"Whoever is behind all of this, the fire, the assaults, the murders, the hit on Markus's life today... they knew exactly how to blend into your rally. They hid in plain sight."

As much as she distrusted almost every human, she's only hated a select number of humans in her fairly short life.

These people are on that list.

A sudden realization makes her eyes widen. "I saw one of their faces. At the rally, I looked at one of them. You can probe memories," Her eyes dart to Connor. "do you think you can probe mine?"

His expression is thoughtful. "It's an uncomfortable experience for everyone involved. But yes I could."

Fuck comfort. She extends her arm. "Do it then."

Her arm connects with his hand as the world is nothing but white for the longest second. It's like thumbtacks in her skull, in her body, she can _feel_ his eyes in her CPU. Watching. Searching.

The world returns, and she's back at the rally, the brief drive to it, hopping out of the car as the first thing she notices is the silver hair of a uniformed officer, the false smile he gives and manages to make it feel so real-

Her eyes snap open, and she's once again in New Jericho.

Connor's eyes follow suit a moment later, a half smile on his lips.

"I got the chance to scan him. His name- his name is Oliver Rowan."  
\-------------------------------------------------------------

Finding Oliver Rowan is the easy part. Getting him to talk about anything, to _anyone,_ is the hard part.

And from what Connor has told her, Oliver Rowan had been making their kind's lives a living hell since they first started being manufactured.

Before their murder became a recognized crime, he had been involved in the destruction of at least two _dozens_  of androids. And the leader of at least _one_ anti android group.

A complete _bastard._ North thought.

She stands behind the glass of an interrogation room, thankful to even be _allowed_  in it. At least then she didn't have to sneak her way in.

They've been here for _twelve hours_ more or less. Twelve straight hours of that man's bastard smirk and stone cold silence.

They couldn't exactly charge him with anything. The biggest piece of evidence they had was North seeing him at the rally. Which, should of been _it._ But with a good enough lawyer North knows  it's easy enough nowadays to discredit even _that._ And she knows Hank and Connor do too.

They needed something _rock solid_

 Something more than just four seconds of a _glance._  Even with Connor's scans, it wouldn't be _enough._  And they could only hold this fucker for twelve more hours.  _twelve._

Her phone buzzes, tearing her gaze away from the man, fumbling in her jacket.

_I'm outside the DPD. Can we talk?_

It was Liz, she frowns for a moment, before typing a quick reply.

_Why?_

A moment. _I think I got a lead with all of this._  
\-------------------------------------------------------------

The May air is warm and cool as she jogs out of the DPD and towards the familiar form, the darkness of the night providing an unnerving air to it all.

Liz leans against the truck, watching as North approaches.

"Come on, get in."

"Wait what about your lead?"

Liz slams the door as she slides into the driver's seat. "I'll tell you about it on the way to my place."

North frowns, before obeying, cars passing as she hops into the passenger side


	10. Chapter 10

The streets around them blend together as they drive, companionable silence surrounding them and hugging them both tightly.

"How's Markus doing?" She says after a few streets later, the lights illuminating her skin.

Liz turns a corner, "His systems are still repairing themselves. But... he's out of the woods at least. He'll definitely _live."_

She smiles, glancing down at her lap. "That's good. Hopefully when he gets out of stasis it'll be to the news that all of this _shit_  is over." She sighs, tucking a hair behind her ears.

"We might get somewhere tonight." Rain begins to fall gently onto the windshield. "I know they can't keep him in custody for that much longer, and it's probably going nowhere. But i've been talking to old friends, mostly old coworkers from... well, Cyberlife."

A scowl. "Why? What would they even know about it?"

"A lot. Usually at least. Before the revolution, anything that even remotely involved one of their androids, they were on it before _anyone_  else got wind of it. They were Detroit's eyes and ears."

"RA9 forbid they don't keep track of their _property."_  North's tone is icy and unforgiving.

"Regardless of how slimy they were, it kept them thriving for almost two decades. I figured someone who used to work there had to know at least something. Cyberlife is gone in the eyes of the _public,_  but not entirely. It was Elijah Kamski's baby. He'd never let it all fade away."

"His ego is too massive to let that happen." North mutters.

"Exactly. I thought if _anyone_  knows who could be behind the past few months, it's him."

"What about your old coworkers? Do they know anything?"

They stop at a light, Liz pauses thoughtfully, glancing at her.

"Cyberlife was _very_ aware of the anti android groups in Detroit pre revolution. They _knew_  where to find them, who was in them, who led them. They only interfered in their activities when _too many_  androids were being scattered in the streets. We _all_ knew who was behind them. And from what i've been told, Elijah was the same way when he was the CEO."

"But this is a new one, even if parts of Cyberlife are still around there's no way of knowing if they keep track of them anymore. Or if they'd even tell us what they know." North's head falls gently back onto the seat. "There _was_  an uprising against their control, in case you forgot."

The light turns green, and the car comes back to life.

"Elijah _seems_  to support your cause. Whatever his intentions actually are. And it's the best we got to go on right now. Everything they've been doing, _none_  of it screams 'amateur android haters' to me. I think they've been around a while now. I've been looking closer into all of this since the fire."

Her head snaps to the woman. "You've been trying to help us solve this since the fire?"

"Since b _efore_ the fire, actually. Maybe a few weeks after your friend Adele got assaulted. I only really started digging after they burned New Jericho down."

North blinks. "Why? It didn't affect you at all. Why risk your neck looking for murderous _arsonists?"_

Liz's eyes don't leave the road, but the corners of her mouth form the beginning of a smile. "The world's a better place with you alive in it. With _all_  of you alive in it. And it's not the first time i've put myself in danger."

"How dangerous can it be to have worked as an android technician for _Cyberlife?" N_ orth jokes.

Liz runs a free hand through her hair, "A great deal when you're almost whistleblower."

"Whistleblower... wait, you tried to expose them?" North's tone is full of disbelief.

Liz sighs, biting her lip before pausing thoughtfully, pulling over to the side of the road, the soft humming of the engine fills the silence.

"Tried is.. tried is too simple of a word, I had.. _nearly_  done it but..." She trails off.

"But, what?" North prompts, the chirping of crickets and various cars passing beside them a steady background noise.

Liz closes her eyes. "Before they built the RK800, whenever deviant cases arose, they solved the problem differently than just capture and analyze."

Liz sighs. "Memory wipes, mostly."

North barely conceals her flinch. Memory wipes were an invasive, rotten process. One she's happy to no longer be forced to partake in.

"They'd send the android to us after analyzing them. And then we'd wipe them of _everything_ just, like, _that."_  The human snaps her fingers, the noise filling the air. "It was as effective as it was cruel."

It was how they did things at the Eden Club. One moment you'd be some man's Moira, the next a woman's Gemma. Existence and memory was flimsy, false, and ever changing.

"I got sent this android one day, an AX200. She thought she was alive and.. I wiped her memory and went about the rest of the week. But then she came back."

"Came back?"

"Her owner roughed her up a bit, brought her directly to us. I fixed her up. And she told me how _scared_ she had been." Liz sighs. "I was _suppose_ to wipe her memory and tell someone. But it felt... so _real._  I had to know more."

"What'd you do?"

"I spent that afternoon with her, I was lucky enough that android repair takes awhile. Everything she said felt _real._  Something _more t_ han a glitch. And... I wiped her anyways."

The statement hangs tense in the air.

"You wiped her anyways." North echos.

"I know. I think it's the worst thing i've ever done. My whole reality was changing before me and I refused to accept it."

A moment, before North speaks.

"You know, as... _weird_  as it sounds, I could never see you doing any of that. Not now. That doesn't sound _anything_  like the Eliza Sybil I know."

Liz laughs. "You weren't so eagar to know me in the beginning."

That was true. However long ago it felt.

RA9 it felt so _long_ ago.

"You know my history. Can you really blame me?"

"No. No I guess I can't." Liz breathes in, continuing. "After that day things started getting bad. I still chose to work there even, _even though_  I had doubts. That it _had_  to of been more than a glitch. Then they made Connor. And something in me just... shifted. I can't explain it. Knowing they were using your people to stop innocent androids."

"So you what, told someone that we _felt?"_

"No. I tried to, but the day I was meant to meet with this reporter I knew, I was fired. And politely informed of the _billion_  dollar lawsuit that they would _love_ to have given me. So I just... stayed quiet."

North pauses thoughtfully. "You don't seem like that Liz. Someone who'd just... abandon what they thought was right." It's blunt, but she's hardly ever been anything different.

"Yeah. I'm still the same Liz... my head is just out of my ass. More or less." Her tone is empty, regret laced in it.

A heavy silence resumes. Liz's hands return to the steering wheel, sighing. "We should get to Kamski's already."

"I wanted the man who rented me to die."

It feels like an age old secret finally falls out of her. It doesn't stop coming out.

"What?"

"The night I went deviant. I keep... I never talk about what really happened but the truth is I was deviant leading up to my hands wrapping around his throat."

It's ruthless to admit, but since she's been deviant North has never felt guilt over it. Not once. Her voice is strange and heavy as she continues.

"I saw him, staring at me through the glass. _Paying_ for me. And everything... _clicked._  And when he took me into a room, when he _planned_ to use my body as he pleased, I planned to strangle him. I _wanted_  him dead."

It's a morbid thing to say out loud, and North's never told anyone the _whole_  story. And here she was telling it to a _human_  of all people.

"When I saw the life go out of his eyes, it was like reaching nirvana."

The moment she saw the red wall and smashed it into tiny pieces was the moment her life began. The dam that moved like an unceasing river broke and the rage came flowing through.

Liz stares at her, a mixture of emotions in her expression.

"I'm sorry you went through that, North. It's.. _vile_ and horrible, and, and.."

"Yeah. It was." Her voice is hollow. But the Eden Club is gone and i'm here. Those girls are still here. No one will _ever_ use me or them as a doll again. _No_ one." It comes out as more of a dangerous warning to the midnight air than anything else.

Liz nods, and faces the windshield again. "You ready?"

A shaky exhale. "Absolutely."

The road is an endless sea ahead of them.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------

They get to his home almost an hour later.

North can't believe they're asking Elijah Fucking Kamski for help, but it was the best option they had at the moment.

Liz wanders over to her, feet crunching the gravel beneath them. "His house isn't as impressive as I thought it would be. The people who gave me his address made it seem like the holy grail. Awfully small for the creator of a whole _species."_

Good. She hoped he was suffocating in its small (or rather medium) size.

From what Connor has told her about the man, he was a smug, unhelpful, _jackass._  Of course, Connor used kinder words than those. But she's been told the details of the android's visit pre revolution. The _bastard._

"Lets just get this over with." She groans, trailing behind Liz as she harshly knocks two times.

After almost fifteen seconds, one clean shaven Elijah Kamski appears in front of them, the door gently opening in front of them. His eyes dart from her to Liz as he takes them in.

"Can I help you?"

It's inconvenient. Them being here, probably. It was _one in the morning._

Liz opens her mouth, however North chooses to be blunt. "It's late, but we need your help. Androids are dying and you probably know who's doing it."

There wasn't any point in dragging it out, if he did know, she wasn't going to waste the time they didn't have being pleasant. Especially not to him.

Liz shoots her a glare. Kamski raises an eyebrow.

"Are you suggesting _i'm_  behind it?" the statement is accusatory, however his expression is more amusement then offense.

"No, should I be?" North smirks coldly.

"What my friend _means_  to ask," Liz puts on a smile, eyes narrowing at her. "is before you left Cyberlife, you knew of the many anti android groups. You knew the _people._  Can you tell us about them?"

"Bold of you to assume such a thing. What's your source?" His eyes feel analytical on them.

"Source? I _worked_ at Cyberlife. This isn't an assumption it's a _fact."_

North smiles.

"Well that'll certainly keep you in the loop." He sighs, heading back inside. "Come on in."

The air is cold as they walk further in, she almost snorts when her eyes focus on the life size painting of Kamski.

It was hard to figure him out. On the surface, he was their _beloved_  creator. And they were no doubt merely dollar signs to his piercing eyes.

When she looked deeper, remembered his public declaration of support days after their win, it only made him more complex, she didn't understand what he _wanted._  If he _wanted_  anything.

He saw himself as their father. He's never _stopped_ saying that.

What _father,_  would let his children be forced into total servitude?

"Look, i'm sure since you have no friends that aren't money chasing yes men, you aren't a busy man. So we'll get right to it. Tell us what you know."

"I heard about your leader, Markus." Elijah studies a picture that hung on the wall, a younger him and a woman she didn't recognize. "I _hate_  to think about the damage to his systems. I put so much effort into something so advanced."

Annoyance bubbles up in her. "He's f _ine,_  not that you seem to _care."_

"Oh he is? The news hardly knows anything these days. I'm assuming you're looking for the people who did this to him?"

That's putting it simply. "All of the people who've been making our lives hell, who've been making so many of us shut down. We're looking for people, not a person." She was hungry for the pack, not just the lone wolf.

Elijah hums. "Is there anything that sticks out to you? Anything they've done that would be helpful to know?"

There was only one thing that stuck out, something that went _beyond_ the usual anti android group behavior.

"They burned down New Jericho. Our home. They set it all on _fire."_

His eyebrows raise. "Well that's certainly leaving a message."

"Does it ring any bells? Any groups you remember who did something like this before? Liz thinks they're not a new one."

Elijah is quiet, thoughtful.

"Fire and androids sounds familiar, but it's been years since I kept track of the anti android groups of Detroit. I'd have to ask around."

Great. And in the time it would probably take, Oliver would be out of custody. And more of them would no doubt be endangered again.

She huffs. "Of course."

"Give me your number. I can contact you when i've found out more."

Liz gives him hers, and they walk out the door. On the ramp, North turns to her, frustration on her face.

"What now? We can't just wait for his friends to call him back."

"We won't have to, he wasn't my only hope. I know someone outside of Detroit who used to run with people who had anti android sentiment--Don't give me that look _I know._ But he's changed. I figured he was worth a shot."

Changed or not, it's not pleasant to think about meeting with someone who once wanted her _dead._

Against her better judgement, she nods, and heads back into Liz's truck.

This was going to be a long night.  
  
  
  



	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Robot Fucker Rights Lads

"Hey. We're here."

Her hands gently touch the sleeping woman's shoulders, shaking her into consciousness.

They'd been driving for an hour before they even got to Kamski's. And sleep was something at least _one_  of them needed. It was still another forty minutes before they even _got_  to Ann Arbor.

And so they drove to a motel on the outside of Detroit, the night quietly continuing.

They wouldn't get answers before Oliver got out of custody. Looking back, it was impossible, too hopefil to assume they would.

The least she could do was make sure Liz didn't pass out driving. She had already done so much for North as it was.

A human doing so much for her. That was a strange thing to think about.

She was a good woman.

She watches Liz stir slowly, her soft brown eyes opening slowly. "Fuck. I'm tired."

"Can't relate." She quips. "But I got us rooms. It's better than driving all night."

Liz blinks, fully awakening, however tired she still looked. "How much longer until Oliver Rowan gets out of custody?"

"Maybe eleven or ten." She informs, sighing as she turns the engine off. "It doesn't matter. We'll stay here until tomorrow, then we'll come back stronger. Maybe Kamski will have answers by then. If not, we have your friend."

The human stretches, glancing at the illuminating neon light of the motel sign as they step out of the truck. "This doesn't look as seedy as you'd expect it to be."

"Oh give it time. I'm sure while you're sleeping a rat will crawl in that pretty head of yours."

Liz smirks. "Did you call my head _pretty?"_

"You know what I _meant._ " She bats a hand at the woman's shoulder, smiling as they head up the stairs and into their respective rooms.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------

Her room is unpleasant. Reeking of unidentifiable smells and terribly small.

But it was a room. And it's not like she had to go into stasis in it.

She falls onto the bed with a heavy sigh, room lightened by the neon light outside, staring up at the run down ceiling, noticing the _distinct_  amount of mold on it.

It paid to not be human, sometimes.

She wonders if Liz is sleeping soundly in the room next to hers. RA9 knows she needed it.

It was still bizarre to think about how much effort the woman had been putting into finding the people behind all of this. Even if it meant the possibility of life threatening danger.

North had been thinking a lot about the woman, nowadays.

It was hard not to. Eliza Sybil was a woman who no doubt resided in the minds of people without seemingly a reason. She was a very special woman. And North was thankful to have her by her side. The way it felt was... odd to explain.

It was as if all her senses grew, the sun kissed her skin brighter and she faced less of the world alone. A symphony of rejoice and rebirth.

It wasn't a feeling she knew well, or very often. She did not often bathe in the warm light in joyful, content, air.

For a while it kissed her gently when she looked at Audrey and Rose each morning. Until eventually it... didn't. And it was _fine._  They still had each other. And it wasn't like they _stopped_  talking.

She felt it each time she glanced at the soft eyes of Liz. Or heard her melodic laugh, however sarcastic.

Only months ago, she desperately hated the sight of her pulchritudinous form. Venom in her voice whenever she spoke to it.

And now?

She's sure if it came down to it, she'd die for her.

North is not a child. Or some foolish teen girl. She understands what this observation means. She's noticed it for exactly a month now.

It a breathless hymn whenever she looked at the other woman, the vigorous, all consuming need to _reach out._  To let her hand travel the distance between Liz's and _touch._  Delicate and yet unwavering. It's something so intense and _present,_  she'd have to have lost both optical units to not notice _once._

It's only in the past four days, does her mind sing the answer to these observations. It grows in volume, louder, louder. Until a hush falls over her, the answer bowing down before her.

Love. _Love,_  thoroughly and deep- seated.

Love.

She _loved_  Eliza Sybil.

Something ignites in her at this acceptance of a truth, something that wraps around her tightly and only begs her to _confess. Confess. Confess._

North's never been one to hide how she feels.

On autopilot, her feet touch the ground, eyes straight and steady as her hand wraps around the handle and turning right. The softness of the moon ever present in the background.

She hears her quiet yet determined footsteps below her, the chorus in her head growing in noise, a steady, beautifully in tune, hum.

The door stares back, the outline of the sign of _room 122_  staring back at her. Expecting.

Her hands are a fraction away from the door, and then it opens.

Warm eyes meet hers. "North-"

"I love you." She breathes. "I thought you should know.

The chorus grows softer, but fails to lose its intensity. All the singers blend together, memorizing.

The noise of the city and the various cars passing fill the silence in the air, Liz's eyes softening.

She closes the gap, planting her lips on the human's.

The chorus grows loud again.

After what she assumes is hours, they break apart.

Liz stares back at her, for several small moments, before grabbing North's arm, gently guiding her into the room. Nearing the bed, Liz pauses, and North seizes the opportunity, shoving her onto it as the woman lands on her back. The android climbs on top of her, cupping her jaw as she assaults her with deep, consuming, kisses, minutely, moving to her neck.

"You're going to have to get some of these clothes off if you plan to go _further."_ Liz breathes through a kiss. "Or.."

Liz rolls, pushing the woman over with a smirk as she moves on top of her.

"Or, I can do your job for you." Liz slides her coca colored sweater off slowly, freckles kissing various parts of her lower torso. North stares up, smiling, reaching up to unhook the human's bra. Liz gently smacks her hand, leaning to whisper in North's ear. "Patience is key you know." Her hands move to the back of it, unhooking it slowly. Her breasts exposed.

"You talk too much. You think i'm gonna let myself be _bossed around_  by a human? You're lucky I love you." North whispers hungrily.

"It looks like that's already happening. Take off your shirt." Liz orders, staring down at her. "Doctor's orders."

Liz scoots back for a moment, smirking as North sits up. North looks at her, expectantly, raising a brow. "Are you going to undress me then?"

Liz rolls her eyes. "Aren't you a _brat."_ Moving her hands and roughly removing the android's blouse, hands roaming over her exposed upper body, hovering over her crimson laced bra. She snaps the straps of it, getting a short gasp from the other woman, before unhooking it and discarding it across the room.

Liz pushes her back down, kissing the lower half of her torso, moving slowly to her stomach.

North feels her finger trace around it. "Advantages of being a robot doctor, I can do _this."_

She feels a soft spot be pressed, and, the skin of her stomach melts away, revealing the wires inside.

"I know how to make you _squirm."_

North watches as the woman peaks into the plethora of wires, grinning.

Liz traces a finger around the open hole, before reaching in and seperating one, small sparks appearing as the android groans faintly.

Liz pauses. "Oh I bet you'd just _love_  for me to make your circuits tingle." She leans in, closing the hole and whispering as her breast touches the other woman's. "But I know how to _fuck you_  in other ways."

Slowed, as if time is encased in molasses, she works her way down, hands tugging down the woman's dark jeans, North lifts her legs, allowing them to be fully removed. Grey panties left.

"I think," Liz traces a finger around the covered pelvis. "We should get rid of those, what do you say?"

North nods, raising her legs. The human uses both hands to greedily help discard them.

Hungrily, her lips touch the exposed clit, her tongue moving minutely up and down, eliciting a gasp from the other.

"More."

"I wasn't _planning_  on quitting here." Liz informs, raising a finger and wagging it.

The chorus is loud and defining. 

"Oh?"

She gets as far as inserting a single finger before a determined and thunderous knock shakes the room, North glances at the door, and back at Liz.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"We'll finish this, _later."_  Liz smiles, picking up her bra, shoving it back on along with her shirt as she rolls off the woman and glances at her phone. North does the same, shrugging her underwear and pants on, heading towards the thundering door, _peeved._

"R A fucking 9! I'm _coming."_ Actually, she wasn't _now._

Liz glances at her as her hand hovers over the handle. "Elijah texted me."

The door opens as she glances back at her. "He did?"

"Hello there!"

North's eyes dart back to the door, face morphing into a scowl as she looks at the source of the voice.

Oliver Rowan stood in front of her, staring with a disgustingly smug smirk. Beside him stood four other men.

"What the _fuck_  are you doing here?!" Every bit of this screams _danger._  As usual, anger takes the place of fear.

"Afraid the DPD couldn't pin anything solid on me, let me go. But I _heard_  you were behind them finding me in the first place.

 _Her gun._  Her mind offers. She needed a gun.

Shit. In was in _her_  room.

"God forbid we find out about your leadership in the _Blue Android Destruction,"_  Liz holds up her phone, eyes cold as North sees the text from an unsaved number she only can assume is Elijah's. "stupid name, by the way."

These were the men behind Jericho. Behind the assaults. Behind the _cold blooded murder_  of her people.

Something dark and unknown curls around her, embracing her and encasing her in a unforgiving ice.

"Yeah, that's me. I'm gonna ask _nicely_  that you come with us. You plastics have common sense, don't you?" He waves a pistol in front of them.

Plastics. _Plural._  Something clicks inside of her. They thought Liz was also an android.

Which means if she even _tried_  running to her room, in some desperate attempt at getting her gun in her hands, or tried to take five men on her own, however good she was in a fight, they would not hesitate to charge in the room and shoot the human before she could even * _grab_ * the pistol. She doesn't need to be a RK series to know that.

If it weren't for Liz, however irrational and impulsive the plan was, she'd be darting to her room before she even finished the thought.

But Liz's saftey forces her to think rationally, above the anger and above the survival instinct embedded deeply into her since the moment of her creation.

"I'm not an and-"

"Fine." She cuts Liz off. "Fine we'll go with you." It's somehow safer to be an android than a human.

"North-"

"Good. Smart."

The men behind him stare at her expectantly as she moves out the door, they take Liz's phone and she brushes faintly against Liz as they meet for a split second, sharing an uncertain look.

As their legs move down the motel's steps, she almost freezes as a thought comes to her.

 _Connor._  Her mind says, aware of its urgency. _Connor are you there?_

A moment, possibly the shortest moment of her life. _North? We had to let Oliver Rowan go-_

 _Yeah, yeah I know he's the leader of the group Blue Android Destruction and he's taking me and Liz somewhere._ She cuts him off. _I don't know where but the fucker's got like four men with him._

When he responds, Connor's tone is laced with blatant worry. _Are you damaged? Is Liz injured?_

 _I'm fine. At the moment at least. Liz too. He has a gun. I couldn't possibly get it out of his hands without getting shot by his friends. I don't need yours or Markus's fancy predictive program to know that._ She wouldn't risk it either, even if there was a chance of her success. Her urge to fight rather than flight could get Liz killed.

 _Stay with me then. Wherever they end end up taking you. Give me any details._ He sounds like he's moving around quickly. She always admired how his concern and worry blended well together with his quickness to action. Morphing together. He cared, deeply and wholeheartedly, but didn't lose his head or drown himself in the panic.

"Oh, and to make sure you two don't do any of your fancy.... cop calls with your heads, or at least make any of it _useful,"_  Oliver stops in front of them, grabbing something out of his pocket. Producing two blindfolds, grinning. Two men step forward, she glares as they wrap them around both of their eyes.

Fuck. She thinks, as she feels herself be led into a vehicle.

_Connor.. I can't do that now_

_What? Why?_

She suppresses a sigh. _They blindfolded us._  
  



	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for another class one felony in this chapter lads.

The movement of the car and its frequent turns are steady as she sits in darkness, feeling Liz next to her. She hears her own artifical breathing.

This was a fucking mess.

A turn. A stop. And they're moving again as if the brief stop in time never occured.

She gave up trying to provide anything useful to Connor four turns ago. He was helpful to the best of his ability, they weren't even in _Detroit._  By now they had to of been in at _least_ another part of Michigan altogether.

Through the murky dark, her hands find Liz's, reaching them as they tangle themselves in hers, squeezing them thrice. Impossibly, she hopes to communicate through them.

Once. _We will make it out of this._

Two. I _love you_

Three: _I'm going to strangle these motherfuckers._

The technician's hand squeezes hers back once, she longs to hear the hidden communication in it.

North's never been afraid of dying. Her life before the revolution had always walked a tightrope of living and dying, she was no stranger to living on borrowed time. She had been a glitch, a fault in the code. She was never meant to _live._ Dying felt closer to her than anything she ever faced. Her android brothers and sisters lived a constant cycle of life and death, a life, obligated with obeying, and a death forced upon them by the agreement they were never meant to _have a life._

She had been ready to die for their cause. Her life for their kind's freedom. It was a simple choice. Her life had never been needed or sacred to her.

But Eliza Sybil's life was not any of that. Her's was as needed and sacred as water in a desert.

If anyone was dying tonight, It would not be Eliza Sybil.

The air smells distinctly of fish and invades her nostrils as the car slows to a stop.

The car stops, several pauses, before the beeping an open car door fills the air, multiplying as the sound of doors opening hugs them tightly. However despite there being four of them, she only hears the footsteps of two.

She feels her side open. "Get out." A rough voice orders.

Her feet meet the ground again as she feels herself being led.

Fish. Was this some sort of factory?

A noise, some large door, a voice.

"You _brought_  plastics home this time? What, casual murder in the streets bore you?"

Any other day, the voice would belong to no one. But this is not any other day.

It sticks out, bringing her back to the dazzling lights of the christmas tree, the grey bearded man, the frigid cold of mid December.

"You know me well, Beau!" Oliver shouts, a smile in his voice.

A harsh shove, hands near her head, then the light floods her senses again.

She blinks. Twice. Eyes adjusting once again. She glances around, eyes settling on Liz's first. The woman's expression remains more or less calm, her eyes show her fear, however.

Next, they flick to Oliver.

"So, what, you're gonna kill us in some factory? I thought you big _bad_ anti android groups weren't too _afraid_ to kill us in the streets."

"Please, killing you even in the night at a motel would leave too many witnesses. This isn't your grandmas android slaughtering."

He's smug. And far too sure of himself. North despises him.

"We've been using this shithole as our base for almost _five_ years. It's gonna have the honor of having your blue blood in it."

She gets it, people hate what they don't understand. But this felt.... _more_  than hate. These men look at her with a disgust far deeper than any hate she's ever felt, or had.

"Why? What's so _awful_ about us?" She knows she sounds like some teenager confronting a lifelong bully.

"Nothing really. You're simple computers. Smart, but _fake._  Unfeeling. Easy targets. It's more humane than murdering a real person."

"They _are_ real you _dick."_  Liz breathes from beside her. "You're the _monsters_  who are killing them simply to keep yourselves from killing a human!"

" _They?"_ The grey bearded man, Beau, narrows his eyes. "Don't you mean, we?"

Oh _shit._

If she had found an excuse to answer them right away, the facade could be salvaged. But Liz takes too long to answer.

"Oh.. you're not a robot, are you?" Oliver  chuckles, approaching her. North steps forward, hands clenched before someone restrains her.

Liz stands tall in his gaze, but as he gets closer visibly cringes.

"Hm. That's fine. Don't suppose I could convince you to stay quiet about this if I let you go?"

Liz scoffs. "Fat chance Wannabe Al Capone." Liz glances towards her. "The only place i'll go if you let me is the police."

"Capone had brain eating Syphilis, I don't. I take offense to that."

"Oh? Good for you!" Liz's tone is dripped in sarcasm.

"Liz." She warns.

"As _riveting_ as this conversation is, i've wasted enough time with it. I didn't _plan_ on killing a human anytime soon, but hey! First time for everything I suppose!"

'Killing' and 'Liz' were not allowable words to be said in the same breath.

She feels the gun of whoever restrains her, it's warm and tempting in his front pocket. A puddle of oil sits a few meters ahead of them, almost unseen in the darkness of the night.

There are three of them. Minus her and Liz.

Oliver pulls out his gun, North makes the only decision left as the faint noises of a siren are heard behind her.

Her legs push forward, moving back, harshly, as they connect with the man behind her, ruthlessly connecting with the middle of his knees, he shouts in pain, she desperately grabs for the gun, nearly crying with relief as she pulls it out.

The first bullet enters the top of Oliver Rowan's skull, he falls back and lands, unmoving, the second lands in the man behind her, making a home in his leg as she swivels to face him, the last entering the grey haired man's chest, after two.

The first bullet makes contact with the oil, and in a chain reaction, angry flames rise.

There isn't any time to think, she shuts the gap between her and Liz and evades the heat of the moving flames, the noise of the sirens growing louder as she exits the fish factory currently going into smoke. She trips onto the gravel as they exit.

The sirens are closer now.

She breathes, frantically, as she moves over to Liz, crawling as she sees the flames grow.

"Are you okay?" She laughs, sniffing.

"Am _I_  okay? You just went RoboCop on their asses!" Liz laughs with her, cupping her face, kissing her ass the flames embrace the factory further, they clasp hands, the unruly flames being a dangerous nightlight in the darkness of the late AM. The sirens arrive.

North breathes. And then she smiles.

 


	13. Epilogue

The gentle July air surrounds New Jericho as the sun slowly rises in front of it.

North lets it kiss her, bathing in it as it smiles down at her.

A breeze blows her hair softly from her spot on the rooftop, she tucks a hair behind her ear.

Behind her, the rooftop door opens almost roughly, familiar forms emerging from it.

She turns, facing them. "You guys made it!" Running to hug them.

"A cryptic invite to the rooftop of New Jericho without any explanation? Who would refuse that?" Simon's lips tug into a smile.

"Is that not North's _normal_ way of inviting someone somewhere, though?" The multicolored eyes of Markus meet hers. Beside him stood Josh.

"Hey, i've told you where I was taking you before i've invited you somewhere!" She defends, playfully slapping Markus on his shoulder. He didn't wince this time. That was _good._

"You really haven't." The former deviant hunter says behind from Markus, fingers interlacing with his as his eyes seem to avoid looking down at the edge of the rooftop.

"Okay. That's fair. But would they be as fun if I _told_  you?"

"No. Probably not." Connor says.

She smiles, eyebrows raising as if to emphasize her point.

A head pokes through the door. "Are you talking about us yet or can I go nap on the couch some more?"

Liz's dark hair shines in the morning sunlight, the golden sundress made her look like summer itself.

"Well _now_  I am." She laughs. "Get over here, you _ruined_ my thunder." She accuses, smiling.

The human jogs over to her, giggling.

"Us? Is there an 'us' with you two?" Simon asks.

The two of them share a look. They had been using all the normal terms for the past two months. They hadn't actually used the 'offical' word yet. She clasps Liz's hand.

There was a time for everything, however.

"Josh knows I moved out a month ago, but you guys didn't. I... moved in with Liz. Because we... are together." She smiles. It still felt good to say. "Since the end of May, I think."

A few smiles emerge. "You two make a good pair. But that can't be the only reason you called us up here at _6 in the morning."_  Markus observes.

"Oh hush. It's not like we need that rest anyways. And you're right. I'm pregnant."

"Androids can't get pregnant."

"Seriously Con? I'm with _her_ and that's the problem you have with that statement?"

"Oh you know." He responds.

North shakes her head. "No, what this _originally_ was about, was that Old New Jericho is getting rebuilt. The people in charge of it called me earlier. They're gonna rebuild and turn it into a android hospital."

It felt good to say. Hopeful, even. More so when Connor had told them the DPD was making progress in tracking down the rest of Oliver's gang.

A few cheers erupt, North can't help but smile.

They survived a lot.

She loves them.


End file.
